


A Kind Of Magic

by Mattex_Smingston



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic Violence, F/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2019-06-22 12:48:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15582342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattex_Smingston/pseuds/Mattex_Smingston
Summary: Set in an AU where everyone has magical powers. Kala is married to a manipulative man who wants to use her and her powers. Wolfgang is her teacher, hired by her husband who is tired of her lack of magical aptitude.On the other hand, Wolfgang and Felix are looking for money to run away from Berlin and leave their mobster life behind.Slow burn, a little bit of angst, and a lot of fluff.





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> My inspiration for this AU is My Hero Academia and Wolfgang is inspired by Shoto because I think they are quite alike (if you watch both shows you understand what I'm talking about.)
> 
> I was supposed to wait until I wrote every chapters before posting it but apparently I was too eager to share it with you so here we go ! 
> 
> I'm not gonna update it very often, maybe every two weeks or something like that, sorry, I'll do my best :(
> 
> Thank you Soni for the Beta ❤️

Wolfgang watched as a black luxurious car parked down the alley of his mansion. The driver stepped out of the car and opened the door for the person sitting in the backseat. Wolfgang looked at her as she smoothed her coat, waiting for her suitcase. He was way too far to see her properly but it hit him how beautiful she seemed to be. He didn’t have any expectation in mind but she sure wasn’t what he thought she would be. The woman looked up in the direction of the house and he stepped away from the window.

Kala looked at the building in front of her and tried to reassure herself “It’s gonna be fine” she kept saying in her mind. She couldn’t decide if she was happy to be here or not. She was terrified about living here for some times with a complete stranger but on the other hand she was relieved to spend time away from her husband.  
She hated this man. He took her from her family when she was only ten and married her when she was fifteen. She had no idea how much he paid to have her but all she knew was that he got a discount because she was so young and they didn’t know what her powers were yet.

Kids usually develops their magical powers along with puberty but sometimes it appears sooner or later than that. For Kala it was way latter. Actually she was now twenty and still had no power at all. Her husband bought her because a very strong magic was running in her family and he needed someone powerful for his business. He thought he could raise her to become like him but he was wrong. Very, very wrong. If she was honest she was happy not to have developed her powers yet because this way she could stay away from his business. She didn’t want to hurt people like he did so many times. He had blood on his hands and she really didn’t want to get involved in any of this.  
He sent her here so the man living in this house could train her and she would finally be able to control her magic.

The driver gave her her suitcase and she came back to reality. She thanked him and he wasted no time, already getting into the car, and drove away quietly. Kala took a deep breath and started to walk toward the doors. She wanted to ring the bell but apparently the house didn’t have one so she just knocked. After several seconds the doors swung open and a puny man appeared. 

“Yep ?” he said “Oh you must be Mrs. Singh right ?”

She cringed discreetly “Please call me Kala. And you must be…” She took a look at the piece of paper she’s been given “W… Wolfgang ?” 

The man snorted “Na, Wolfie’s upstairs. But please, come in.” He took a step back so she could walk in and offered to take her suitcase and her coat. “Wolfgang !” he called out. Then he suddenly remembered he didn’t introduce himself “Oh I’m Felix by the way. Sorry, we’re not used to having guests” 

“It’s okay” she smiled politely.

“Let me show you around ! So this is our living room” he said as he led her down the hallway. He showed her the dining room and the second living room as well as the veranda at the back of the manor from where you could see the garden, which seemed huge. They walked by a few closed door that Felix described as a cupboard or disused room since they were only two living in this gigantic house. They ended the tour of the ground floor in the kitchen and the first thing she noticed was him.

He was leaning against the counter, cutting an apple in small pieces before putting them in his mouth.

Felix seemed surprised to see him there since he was upstair when he let Kala in. He didn’t say anything about it and chose to say overly annoyed “Here you are you moron !” then he turned around to face her “This is Kala, our guest !” and he smiled brightly.

He was right earlier, now that she was right in front of him he could say that she was indeed really beautiful. Dangerously beautiful.

“Client, Felix, not guest.” he corrected, looking down at his knife going through the apple.

The small one sighted loudly “Why do you have to be such a jerk ?” he then turned to face Kala again so he could apology for his friend’s behaviour.

He took advantage of the fact that Felix was talking to her to look at her in detail. She was not very at ease, probably shy. He could feel a strong magical vibe coming from her and he had no doubt she was powerful but judging by the way she was holding herself he could say that she didn’t realize it. He looked at her face, there was something fierce in her gaze but also something broken, something dull. He was told that she was the wife of Param Singh, an Indian mobster who moved in Berlin recently, and Wolfgang was very aware of how those men usually treat the women, she probably went through a lot. Then his eyes lingered in her lips and he let himself wonder what these could do, a smirk appeared on his own lips.

He was sure of one thing, she was not dangerous. Not yet.

He didn’t pay any attention to what Felix was saying and walked toward her, offering his hand “I’m Wolfgang”

She looked at him in surprise but shook his hand softly. 

“I will be your teacher” he added, looking at her right in the eyes.

She swallowed “I was told so, nice to meet you Mister…” she posed, realizing that she didn’t know what is last name was. 

“Bogdanow”

She frowned unable to hide her surprise. “I thought the Bogdanows were all dead.” she said softly before she could stop herself.

He smiled slightly “They are. I’m the last one.” He let go of her hand and put his in his pocket. “First lesson tonight at five, it’s alright ?”

She blinked, surprised once again, by how fast he changed the topic of this discussion. “yes of course. Thank you”

“Great, I’ll see you then. Feel free to walk around the house, make yourself at home” and one second after he was already out of the room.

She stood here for a moment and Felix’s voice brought her back to reality

“Alright, let me show you upstairs, okay ?” 

She nodded and followed him.

_____

 

Kala was now alone in her room. They gave her a large suite and she could see the garden from her windows. She noticed a huge greenhouse outside and a small brook far away on the plot. A forest was surrounding the whole property.

She stepped away from the window and let herself fall on the mattress. It was comfortable. She smiled and stretched, kicking off her shoes, and slide under the covers. She had no idea how long she would stay here but she was going to enjoy sleeping in this bed. She suddenly realized that she had not sleep alone in bed for more than two night in a row since her wedding, five years ago.

Her thoughts brought her back to Param, her husband and she sighted, deciding to push the thought away. Instead she closed her eyes and let her mind wander in the fresh memories of her arrival here. Felix has been very nice and friendly despite her shy attitude and she was grateful for it. Wolfgang on the other hand was… Interesting. That’s all she could come up with. She saw him only for a few minutes and he managed to be both cold and warm with her during this short period of time. It was a strange feeling to be in the same room as him, intimidating but not frightening wich was two feeling that usually came together according to her experience living with Param. She was not as scared as before about spending a few weeks here now, she decided she was happy to be here, far from her husband.

She didn’t realized how tired she was and sleep caught her by surprise. When she woke up she grabbed her phone and saw that it was 4:23 pm. She groaned knowing, that she had to get up to be ready for her first lesson. She chose to take a shower before and by five she was downstairs. She walked into the living room and no one was there, the dining room and the second living room were empty as well. She checked in the kitchen and saw no one either. Kala decided to wait in the main living room and she was walking toward it when she heard the rear door open. She looked in the hallway and saw Wolfgang closing the door behind him. He looked up and saw her standing in the corridor.

“I was looking for you.” Kala said shily.

He smiled softly “Let’s sit by the fireplace, it will be more comfortable.”

She nodded and followed him to the second living room, where the only working fireplace of the house was. It was a very small room with two armchairs and a little couch were facing the fire. There was an old rug on the floor and a window on the left wall from where you could see the alley leading to the mansion.

Wolfgang told her to take a sit and he took the other armchair next to her. “I thought we could talk a bit so we could learn a bit more about each other before we get started.”

She nodded, “What do you want to know ?” 

He locked eyes with her “Why did you want to do this ? To receive this training ?”

She frowned “I’m not the one who asked for it, I thought you knew.”

He frowned too “What do you mean ?”

“My husband reached out to you so you could teach me how to use my powers, but I personally don’t really care not being able to use them.” she was now biting her bottom lip, anxious about what he was going to say next. She really didn’t want to explain everything to him right now. How Param chose her because of the powerful magic running in her family when she was little, how he was getting angrier at her everyday for not having any powers yet despite being twenty years old, … She really didn’t want to expose her life to him, she didn’t feel comfortable enough with him yet to do so.

Wolfgang stared at her for a moment with genuine concern. It was confirming his worries from earlier, Param was probably planning to use her like a tool to achieve his goal, whatever it was. His own family used to do the same.

“Why don’t you care about it ?” his question took her by surprise and she looked at her fingers

“Because… Because it’s too easy to hurt people with magic.” She looked up at him. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“What are your powers ?” he asked

She looked at the fire, avoiding his gaze, slightly ashamed. “I don’t know yet” she whispered.

He frowned again “You still don’t have your powers ?”

She looked quickly at him before laying her eyes on her fingers again. She nodded.

“How old are you ?” he said gently, not pushing her.

“hm.. Twenty.” she answered quietly.

He smiled softly, trying to catch her gaze. “There nothing to be ashamed of. This is not abnormal, just unusual.”

“It’s actually better that way.” she said, still whispering. “The longer it stays this way, the longer I can stay away from my husband’s business.” She didn’t want to explain everything to him but she could at least tell him that.

He smiled knowingly, his doubts definitely confirmed. “I think that’s why your powers don’t want to show up.” 

She looked at him curiously. 

“You don’t want to get involved in his mess so you’re containing your powers. They are here, but you are keeping them silent.” He said with a smile on his lips. “I think it will be easier than we think to make them appear.”

She now had a worried look on her face and he leaned over so he was closer to her now. “Hey, having powers does not make you bad, it’s the way you use it that define who you are.” He stared at her for a moment, waiting for a reaction that didn’t come. “I can feel how powerful your magic is, and rumors say that mister Singh is quite a shitty magician isn’t he ?” 

She laughed “Are you insulting my husband mister Bogdanow?”

“I’m just repeating what I heard” he said chuckling.

“Oh God, I should not laugh at that” she said a hand on her mouth to keep herself from laughing too much.

“But it’s true though, right ?” aked Wolfgang.

“Well… All he can do is attract objects to him. Quite useful but not very impressive.” she said, still smiling

“Really ?” he was laughing hard by now “That’s it ?”

She nodded.

“Let’s train you so you can kick his ass off, what do you say about that ?”

“It’s not that easy you know, he has a lot of people working for him”

“Yeah I bet he does, that’s what people of his kind do”

She was aware he knew what he was talking about. She heard a lot about the Bogdanow family. She was curious to know how he ended up being a magical teacher but she chose not to ask. Instead she said “Can I ask you what your powers are ?”

He smiled at her “Yes of course. I can control temperature.” He raised his hand, his elbow reposing against the armrest. She watched as flames started to dance around his fingers, a small replica of what was happening in the fireplace. “From fire to ice” he said as the flames faded to be replaced by snowflakes spinning around his wrist. She was focused on his hand and he looked at her delicate feature. She was very young and seemed even younger. He thought to himself that at least here she was far away from people who could hurt her. He closed his fist and the snowflakes disappeared, leaving no wet dots on the floor. 

“This is amazing” she whispered.

“Magic can be beautiful you know” He said softly, still looking directly at her. 

“I don’t know. I only have seen it destroying people’s lives. It is hard to believe from my perspective.” Kala retorted, looking at her fingers.

“It only depends on what you do with it” He waved at the fireplace and the flames faded away, they were now in the dark. Then he threw an ice ball in the air and hit it with a tiny fireball. The ice ball exploded in hundreds of glowing pieces, falling very slowly around them. 

She gasped and laughed, amazed at what she was seeing. She extended her hands to catch some of the sparkling flakes “Wolfgang this is beautiful !” 

He didn’t answer, once again staring at her. He loved how his name sounded on her tongue, with her accent. 

They didn’t hear the footsteps coming in the hallway and Felix found them in this exact position “Dinner's ready guys” he said before frowning severely at them.

Wolfgang stood up quickly “we’re coming”

_____

 

Latter in the day, when Kala finally went to her bedroom, Felix went to the greenhouse in the garden where he knew he could find his friend.

He found him by the shed, tinkering some pipes for plants watering. 

“What the hell ? What was that Wolfgang ?”

“What are you talking about ?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about !” He said, raising is voice. “Don’t flirt with her.”

Wolfgang looked at him “I’m not flirting with her.”

“Are you kidding me ?” he said astonished. “You threw fucking snowflakes in the air to make her laugh, how many times did this trick worked again ? You’re not allowed to fuck with this one. If you do and Singh learns you fucked his wife, then we are fucked.”

“You’re worrying too much, Felix.” he mumbled.

“And I’m the one worrying too much now... “ the small one muttered to himself. “Listen, we stick to the plan, teach this girl whatever you have to teach her, we take the money and we get the fuck away from this city. Don’t complicate everything Wolfgang.”

“I’m not fucking with her !” He replied, visibly annoyed by this conversation.

“Yeah, not yet.”

Wolfgang sighted and let his arms fall, exasperated “Are you done ?”

“Yeah. Just don’t mess up, okay ? We’re too close to lose everything now.”

“I won’t” he said, focussing again on the pipes.

“Fine” Felix turned around and left him alone, returning to the house.

Wolfgang knew that his friend was right and he had no intention in failing the plan. It was too easy compared to what they already achieved before, he was not going to ruin everything for a girl.


	2. Discovering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kala become closer with the boys and we learn a bit more about Kala's husband

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was talking with friends about how Max looked when he was younger and since here Wolfgang is 23 (no I din't tell you in the fic because I'm stupid) this is probably what Wolfie looks like in the fic : https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a3/ba/1f/a3ba1f1d0a4e3d4b1c337990eefc8ae9.jpg

The next day Kala woke up to a ring of her phone. She extended her arm to grab it and saw that it was a text from Param. She locked her phone again, deciding that she would reply to it later.

She groaned sleepily and rolled over so she was laying on her back, a hand over her eyes. She could hear running water coming from a room near hers, someone was taking a shower.   
Kala looked at her phone again and saw that it was past eight in the morning so she decided to get up and go downstairs. After a short time in the bathroom to fix her hair and get dressed she got out of her room.

She walked into the kitchen where Felix was cooking. “Hello” she greeted him with a smile. 

He turned to see her and smiled brightly at her “Good morning Kala ! Did you sleep well ?”

“Yes, thank you” Felix pointed at a seat at the counter and she took one. 

“I didn’t really know what you would like to eat but I made pancakes, do you want some ?” he asked still looking at the pan in front of him.

“Oooooh yes please.” she replied with a bright smile “I’m not really used to have sugar in the morning but I love pancakes too much to say no.”

He laughed and put the pancake he was making on top on the others he already made. Then he grabbed two plates and gave one to her, filled with food.

She thanked him, a wide smile still on her lips, and took the syrup in order to drown her pancakes in it. She hummed in delight when she put the first bite in her mouth.

“Good ?” Felix asked, chuckling.

She took the time to swallow and replied “You have no idea.” She quickly took another bite “I can’t even remember when was the last time I had pancakes.”

He smiled at her and told her he was happy she liked it. Then they jokingly fought about what was the best marmalade to eat it with and Wolfgang entered the room. Kala’s back was facing the door so she turned around to greet him.

His hair was still wet and was leaving a trail of cologne scented air after him. She waved shyly at him and he smiled back. He took a mug and filled it with hot coffee.

After a little while Felix asked “So, what are the plans for today ?”

“Kala’s first practical lesson” Wolfgang answered, smiling at her. 

\----

“Focus on the target.”

“I’m trying” she said, trying not to sound irritated.

“Good, you know exactly where it is. Close your eyes and feel the magic inside of you.” 

Wolfgang and Kala were in a very large room in the basement of the mansion that he dedicated for this purpose. Light was mostly coming from the ceiling lamps since the windows were too small to provide decent lighting. 

They have been at it for almost an hour now and nothing was happening. She was starting to get annoyed but she had learnt over the years how not to show it. 

“Once you feel something try to direct it to the target”

She closed her eyes again, concentrating harder. 

Wolfgang was looking at her, his arm crossed. He could see that she was containing herself, he was convinced that her powers would show up very soon but before he needed to convince her to let them out. 

She suddenly opened her eyes, sighting louder than before. “This isn’t working.”

He wanted to tell her that it was because she didn’t want it to work, but he knew better than to make her feel bad. It was the last thing she needed to succeed.

He unfolded his arms “You know what ? Let’s take a small break.”

“Thank you.” She said quietly before adding “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s nothing. We’ve been working for only a hour it can’t work right away.” he said walking toward the wall so he could sit on the floor and lean his back against it. Then he patted the floor next to him to tell her to come sit with him. She came closer and sat crossed-legged next to him. “You still don’t believe me, uh ?”

She looked at him with a questioning look.

“You still think that magic is bad and everything.”

She looked down and didn’t answer. 

“It’s okay, I can’t change your mind with only one small conversation. It took me a while too.”

She looked up again “What do you mean ?” she said shyly.

“My own family was quite terrible too, you already know that right ?” she nodded and he continued “I grew up with the same idea in mind, magic was only a way to make bad people even more powerful.”

She was biting her bottom lip and he could see that she was thinking about something. “How did you change your mind ?” 

“When my powers appeared at first I was angry. I didn’t want to be like them, all the men in my family. And one day I realized that I could use it only to defend myself, or to prevent them from hurting the people I loved.” He had a flashback of him at thirteen years old burning his father to death after he knocked him out. He remembered how he enjoyed killing him, how he felt when he realized it was over. Since then he never regretted doing it not even once.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, even to defend myself.” she said looking down again, playing with her fingers.

He was looking at her and was debating mentally whether to say what he had in mind or not, then decided it was better to be honest with her. He took a breath and went for it “okay, it might sound incredibly inappropriate since we met only yesterday but… I know what you’re going through.” 

She looked up and frowned deeply at him “You do ?”

“Yeah. My… My mother, she was like you.” He paused for a few seconds and she didn’t say anything, waiting for him to talk. “My father married her because her powers were useful, he made her believe he would protect her. She was just convenient to him, nothing more.” He sighed before adding “So, yeah… I think I know what it must be like to be in your position. I mean, I don’t want to make assumptions but…”

“What was her powers ?” She was looking at him right in the eyes, something unusual enough to notice. She always felt so alone, she didn’t think that she would ever hear about someone who have been through the same things as her.

He was unprepared for the intensity of her gaze and he stared at her for a couple of seconds before answering “hum, she could see things, you know, like, premonitions. She could warn them if something would go wrong like cops showing up or stuff like that.”

Kala, who had noticed the past tense he was using while talking about her, had now only one question in mind, but she was scared it was too personal to ask. Though she was way too curious about it, she wanted to know what could happen next to her. “What happened to her ?” she finally asked very quietly, almost a whisper.

He felt sadder than usual, knowing why she would want to know that. “She, hum…” he took a small breath. “She died.” He could see that Kala was expecting him to explain a little more so that is what he did. “My father was planning on a very big move and asked her to check if it was going to work out. I don’t know if she didn’t see it or if she lied to him but the D-day things didn’t go according to the plan. He got angry. Really angry.”

She was still looking at him, looking sadder than before. She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I was just… too young to protect her.” he said, sounding softer.

“It was not your fault.” she whispered.

“I know.” suddenly his eyes were wet and he got tensed. He wiped them quickly with his hand mumbling “what the fuck ?”

She tried to tell him it was okay but he got on his feet in an instant “Let’s get back to work.” he said, colder than usual. Apparently this women had more effect on him than he thought and he didn’t like it. 

She didn’t say a thing and obeyed, by getting on her feet too. 

“Ok, try to straighten your back” he told her while she was getting in position again.

She did it but she was still not really straight so he walked up to her and put one hand on her upper back and one on her stomach. “Like this” he said, trying to sound more gentle. 

He finally had a chance to fix his mistake and prevent what happened to his mother to happen to Kala. He was determined to do it. He suddenly felt a protective urge toward her and fought against his desire to continue his move and wrap his arms around her. However, he knew that the best way to protect her was to teach her how to defend herself so he let his hands fall and took a few steps back, resuming the lesson. 

____

Param Singh was a very handsome man in his late thirties. He came from a very powerful family and was an only child, needless to say that he grew up as a spoiled rotten kid and he was still behaving like one. If there was a word for people who thought too much of themself while actually being a complete failure, we could see his face right next to it in the dictionary. His success was only due to his assistant’s work, always covering his back to avoid his father to be ashamed of his son. 

When he became tired of only being seen as the son of his father he decided to move so he could start to build a empire of his own. He didn’t really think about Berlin in the first place but that was before he met Lila Facchini.

She was actually walking down the hall that led to his office right now, a black folder in her right hand. She was wearing a very see-through black dress that was also lopsided and under it we could see her black bodysuit. She would cover up with her big fur coat but she got it off it as soon she got into the house. When she reached his office she swung the doors open and he looked up, not expecting to see her today.

“Tell me you’ve got some good news” he said excitingly at her.

She threw the folder on his desk and went to sit on the couch in the corner of the room. “Open it.” 

He did as he was told, took a look at the papers inside and smiled with his too white teeth. “You got the plans of the buildings ? How did you get them ?”

“You’ve got your secrets, I’ve got mine” she said smiling too. 

The buildings in question was where their next move was going to take place. They were heading for a device invented by a guy named Brandt. When she first talked to Param about it he thought he was dreaming. This thing that Brandt conceived was able not only to scan people to tell what their powers were but also to kind of vacuum them up so you could make them yours.

Lila was perfectly aware that Param was hung up about his limited powers and he wanted this machine only to concolide his male ego. But she didn’t care. She could not do it alone, since she’s been working for Brandt she has also been one of his guinea pigs. Her powers had no secret for him, he had it stored in this thing and she could not tolerate that, she needed to get it back. She could not stand the idea of sharing it with anyone. Needless to say that once she would get her hands on it she would quickly become the most powerful women and she would of course get rid of Param pretty quickly. But right now she needed him to trust her.

He went through the documents quickly and then looked up at her “So, what’s the next step ?”

God, Lila hated that guy, he was a fucking child and she really didn’t want to play his mother. 

“We start organizing” She said calmly even though she was clearly pointing at the obvious.

“Wait until I tell my men about this, they’re going to freak out.” 

And here he was, saying stupid stuff again. Lila fought hard against her desire to sigh deeply and stood up before starting to walk toward him. “Believe me you don’t want to talk about this to anyone.” She said with her I’m-clever-than-you tone.

He raised an eyebrow at her “Well, how am I supposed to get them to help us then ?”

She was now standing behind his back and leaned in so she could whisper in his ear “You are going to lie to them.” She lingered on every word, sounding oddly hot saying this simple sentence. She then straightened up and said casually “If we tell anyone about it then the information will circulate and that’s when competition starts.” While saying that she turned his seat over so he was now facing her. “We don’t want competition” she stated.

“You’re right” he said while his eyes were going up and down her body, not even bothering to hide his gesture. “What are we going to tell them then ?”

It took Lila all her mental strength not to roll her eyes at this. She was not in the mood to mollycoddle him today so she did the only thing that always worked with Param to shut him up. She pulled her dress up and sited on his lap, facing him, and put her hands on his neck. 

“I’m sure you can come up with something.”

____

Kala and Wolfgang had been working all day without apparent signs of progress. He told her that it was normal, it was just the first day and that it would work eventually. He then disappeared to go in the greenhouse while she choose to take a quick shower and went to her room. When she went downstairs more than half an hour later she found Felix cooking in the kitchen. He greeted her brightly, as usual, and she returned it more shyly.

“How was your first day ?” he enquired.

“Good, I guess.” she answered. 

Confused by her response he asked again “Has Wolfie been mean to you ? He can be such a dick sometimes.”

“No no, Wolfgang is very nice.”

“Good. You can always tell him to fuck off if he’s being annoying.” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kala nodded to be polite but she knew that she would never be capable of saying such a thing to anyone. A few seconds went by then she said “Can I help you ?”

He seemed surprised then opened his mouth to say “Yeah sure ! Do you like to cook ?”

“Yes, I love it actually.” she confessed.

He gave her some instructions that she followed right away.

After another moment of silence she decided that tonight she would be braver and actually talk to him. It was not in her nature to do that but Felix being so friendly with her was helping a lot and she genuinely wanted to know more about him. “So, you are the chef of the home ? Everytime I see you you’re in the kitchen.”

Felix laughed at that “Yeah, kinda. I mean, I would let Wolfie cook if he didn’t get everything burnt.”

Kala chuckled “Is he that bad ?”

Felix put on an overly disappointed face before saying “Dear, you have no idea.” while shaking his head. They shared a laugh at that then he added “And you know, when you’re stuck in a mansion having nothing to do, cooking is a pretty good hobby.”

“Oh I feel you ! I would do that often too when my husband allows me.” she said with a bright smile.

Felix looked up at her with a concerned look, wanting to say something, but eventually decided against it. Growing up with Wolfgang taught him a lot about the moves of those families, it was probably better for her to obey than to confront her husband.

Instead he let them fall in a comfortable silence, working together on tonight’s meal. A few minutes later they heard the rear door open and right after Wolfgang appeared in the kitchen. He leaned on the doorframe “You’re making the clients work now, Felix ?”

“Oh I asked if I could help, he didn’t ask me” Kala said immediately.

“Yeah, yeah I bet you did, I was kidding Kala, don’t worry.” he said, reassuring. 

“Oh, sorry.” she said quietly, a little embarrassed.

“Don’t be, it’s nothing” Wolfgang said smiling at her. 

“Wolfgang’s kind of humor is really bad if you ask me anyway.” Interrupted Felix.

“Excuse me ?” the tall one said, making an excessively hurt face.

“Yeah ! You know it’s not my fault if I’m the funnier than you, life made me that way.”

Wolfgang didn't say anything and instead waved his hand toward his friend who’s cloth started to catch on fire. Kala gasped, Felix swore and Wolfgang laughed, proud of his move. Felix then directed his palm to the burning cloth and the flames were blown away.

“Shit Wolfgang ! You can’t burn all of our cloths like that !”

“You started it.” he retorted, still smiling.

Kala was looking at the burnt piece of tissue “How did you put it out ?”

Felix looked at her an instant before answering “Oh this is what I do, you know, blowing things.”

Wolfgang then bursted out of laughing and Felix suddenly understood the possible meaning of what he just said. Kala, in the meantime, was looking down, pursing her lips to keep herself from laughing.

“Wolfgang no ! Shut up ! That’s not what I meant and you know it !” Felix yelled while pointing at him.

“But that’s what you said !” he responded still laughing hard.

Felix turned to face Kala “I can create gusts, that’s what I meant.” he said more gently to her.

“Yes, I figured that’s what you meant.” she said, smiling gently.

“You know what, you’re right. You’re the funniest, by far.” interrupted Wolfgang.

Kala looked at him directly for the first time since all of this started and realized what a beautiful smile he had. It was cute and sincere, it made him look softer. When he laid his eyes on her she looked away quickly, pretending not to have been staring at him. However he noticed it and stared at her for a couple of seconds, his smile not leaving his face.

This evening Kala didn’t go straight to her room right after diner and stayed with them downstairs. They laughed a lot while the two boys were telling her about anecdotes from when they were teenagers. Kala was becoming genuinely quite fond of the two of them. She felt more comfortable with them thanks to that. In fact she has been staying with the two of them for less than two days and already she was feeling more comfortable with them than with anyone she could remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you liked it. If you think I should have changed something please tell me so I can improve.
> 
> Comments are always welcome <3


	3. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wolfgang and Kala try another training method

It’s been more than a week since Kala first knocked on their door. They spent each day practicing in the basement and every evening talking about random things with Felix. The two boys grew fond of her pretty quickly. It felt strange at first to let her in their world this easily, they didn’t think it was possible. Since they first met, it has always been only the two of them, no one else.

But Kala was different, she was listening, comprehensive. It didn’t take long until they told her about their most awkward or stupid stories, they never felt like she was judging them, and she truly wasn’t. If he was fair to himself, Wolfgang would admit that he was enjoying this. He was enjoying talking to her, and most importantly he was enjoying making her laugh more than anything. He loved to see her genuinely happy, first of all, because it was the first time ever someone was enjoying spending time with him and Felix but mostly because he merely liked to see her smile. The way her eyes would start to shine whenever they would recount another adventure of theirs, the way her lips would turn into a smile while listening to them, the concern in her voice like if she wasn’t really sure they made it out alive even though they were right in front of her, the sound of her laughter… 

Wolfgang liked to spend the day practicing with her, but he was always looking forward to their evening telling stories sessions the most. 

Kala, on the other hand, loved to listen to them. For once in her life, she was treated like she was more than her husband’s wife, like she was her own person, existing by herself. She enjoyed hearing them talk about their life experience, like if it was compensating her lack of own experiences. She always wanted to know more, questioning them, interrupting them in the middle of an anecdote to ask for more details about something.

However, during this past week, Kala didn’t make any progress whatsoever. She kept reminding herself that it was better that way, if she could end up not having any powers at all maybe Param would lose his interest in her and set her free. But she knew that was very unlikely to happen and, mostly, she didn’t want to disappoint Wolfgang. This man had a lot of patience, eleven days had passed and still, nothing was happening, yet he had not shown any sign of frustration. In fact, she was pretty sure he was the softest man she had ever met. He would take time to talk to her whenever she felt down, deciding to take way more breaks than necessary. She was convinced he managed to get who she was almost entirely. It was terrifying to think about because she was used to being afraid of people taking control over her. If he wanted to he could break her completely, a few words were all it would take. But, oddly, she never felt safer than when she was with him. He and Felix were amazing to stay with but while Felix was just really friendly with her she could feel that Wolfgang also had this protecting vibe coming from him. Kala hadn’t feel protected in a very, very long time.

Today for some reason, he took her outside for her lesson. October was starting to turn the green landscapes into bright orange ones. Kala was enjoying the colors but not really the coldness of it all. She was holding herself, her coat around her in an attempt to warm herself up. “Why are we outside?” she said, really not succeeding in her bid not to sound annoyed.

Wolfgang, rather, didn’t seem to have even noticed that summer was over, still wearing his light jacket. “To try something else.”

“Is it really impossible to try it inside instead ?” she tentatively asked.

“Nope.” Wolfgang answered, apparently not willing to give any more details.

He was leading her a bit farther from the house, instinctively putting a hand on her back in order to ease her.

She managed to stay quiet for a few seconds before asking again “What are we doing that requires to be outside ?”

Wolfgang looked at her with a tiny smile. “I told you, trying something else.” he said while raising his brows. “Any other questions, ma’am ?”

“No.” She looked at him curiously as he stepped away from her, positioning himself a few meters away. A shiver ran down her spine “Actually, yes. Why is it so cold ?”

Wolfgang chuckled “You’re going to hate winter here. Don’t worry, I’m gonna warm you up”.

Kala looked confused “What ?” The sound didn’t even have time to leave her mouth that a very hot ball made of fire missed her by only a couple of inches. She looked at him in disbelief. “Are you crazy ?” she shouted.

He opened his arms, pleased with himself, “Try to stop me !” and threw another fireball at her. It brushed past her again.

“Wolfgang !” She avoided another one before saying. “I’m not doing this, I don’t like this.”

He let his arms fall by his side. “Kala, I’m not really aiming at you, you’re gonna be fine.”

“What the point then? If I know you’re not going to hurt me, why would I want to stop you ?” she said, putting her hands on her hips, the coldness of outside forgotten.

“You want me to shoot at you then? Okay.” he said, shrugging while preparing his hand to throw another fireball.

Kala’s eyes widened “No !” she yelled while raising her hands to protect herself.

Wolfgang closed his fist and the flames in it disappeared. He softened. “Kala, you trust me, right ?”

She stiffened, shook by the intensity of the “yes” her mind just shouted in silence. She looked at him for a few seconds and nodded shyly, holding herself again.

“I’m not going to hurt you, okay ?” he said, sad that she might have thought he could be capable of hurting her on purpose. After she nodded again, Wolfgang added “We’re just trying something else. What we’ve done so far didn’t work, maybe a less subtle method will work.” She wasn’t saying anything so he continued. “You wanna try ?”

Kala stayed quiet a moment, examining him and she whispered “Okay.” 

He smiled at her. “Great. If you want to stop, we stop.”

She nodded once again “What am I trying to do exactly ?”

He shrugged “I don’t know, find a way to stop me. Let your body react. What is it trying to tell you ? Let it go completely, let what’s inside of you out, and don’t be scared to hurt me. Okay ?” 

She took a big breath, unsure of herself. His instructions could not be clearer but it was still very vague. Then she straightened up “Okay. Let’s try it.”

They started the lesson right away. Wolfgang was watching her very carefully, focusing on where to throw his fireballs to not touch her. He could see that she was working with good will this time, more than before. He was staring at her as she was trying everything she could think off. She was testing stopping the projectiles with one hand, then both of her arms. After half an hour, without any results, she was starting to get breathless so Wolfgang made them take a break.

He took a few steps toward her and sat on the grass, inviting her to do the same thing. “Are you okay ?”

She sat roughly in front of him, sighing loudly. “Nothing’s working.”

He looked at her. Hearing her say this was a success of its own, she now wanted it to work. It was a step in the good direction. “Every vain attempt bring us closer to the one which will work.” he said to her.

She hummed in agreement, not really believing it. “What if I just don’t have any powers ? It’s not impossible, it happens sometimes !” She was looking at him in the eyes, something that she would do more often by now.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t ?” she asked, looking a bit frustrated.

“No I don’t.”

“Why ?” She asked again, without leaving him any time to explain his thoughts in the first place.

He stared at her, surprised by her sudden liveliness about this topic. He smiled gently before chuckling a little. “Because, first of all, people without powers are really rare, and mostly because it’s obvious that you not only have powers but very strong ones.”

She sighed, breaking eye contact. “Why is everyone telling me that ?”

She was asking it for herself but he responded anyway. “Because there is an amazing magical energy coming out of you. It’s almost palpable. I have no idea what you’re able to do but I can guarantee you that you’re gonna kick everyone's ass. Mine included.”

“Then why am I the only one not feeling it ? I don’t feel anything magical about me.”

He was caught out by her question and didn’t have any answer to give her.

While he was thinking about what to say, Kala softened, looking at him again. “I don’t want to… Kick your ass.” She almost whispered.

He locked eyes with her, suddenly having a very vivid mental image of her spanking him and it took him all his mental strength not to grin. “I’m glad to hear that !” he laughed.

She laughed too “I mean, if I’m this powerful, aren’t you scared that I’m going to hurt you at some point ? I don’t want this to happen.”

He looked at her seriously “Don’t worry, I’ve seen worse.”

She frowned at him. “Well, that’s making me worry more about you actually.”

He sighed and laid down in the grass “Don’t.” he said, staring at the clouds.

She stayed silent for a bit before saying “I don’t really think I can help it.”

“There is no need to worry about me, I’m fine.”

Kala didn’t answer anything and laid down next to him. After several minutes of silent thoughts, she finally voiced out “I want to say something but I don’t know if I should.”

He turned his head to look at her and said gently “Well, you have to say it now.”

She kept quiet for a few more seconds and then took a breath. “How long do you think I’m going to stay here ?”

He stared at her as she has been talking, studying her. “You’re husband wanted to send you here for two months, more if it’s not enough.” he replied honestly.

She closed her eyes. “I don’t want to go back there.” she whispered.

He was still looking at her and it was hurting him to see her like this. He understood why she was saying this and he actually didn’t want her to go back there either.

She exhaled sharply. “I know I should not feel like this and it’s going to be really awkward so I’m sorry but…” she bit her bottom lip “But you and Felix are the first people in a really really long time to be this nice with me. And… I mean, I don’t really know if I’m putting the right words about what I’m feeling but I think the two of you are the closest to what I can call friends.” She turned her head too and she was now staring at him in the eyes. “I don’t want to lose that.”

It took him a short while to find out what to answer to that and she covered her face with her hands, adding quickly “I’m so awkward, I warned you. I’m sorry, I should not have said this, I’m your client, that’s it.”

“No no no.” He interrupted her, sitting up again. “No, you’re not awkward at all. I’m just… not very used to… those, hum, open heart conversations.” She looked at him as she was sitting up too. He took a small breath and smiled, a hand on his hair. “You know what ? You’re actually my first student.”

“I am ?” she asked, surprised.

“Yes. And let me tell you that if I knew it would be like this I would have done it sooner.”

She looked at him in silence, not really understanding what he was saying. 

“I mean, Felix and me, we don’t really do friends. We’re kind of used to being on our own. But having you around feels actually really good.” He chuckled, uncomfortable. “Well, all of this to tell you that, I think you’re our friend too. See ? I’m the most awkward.”

She laughed too, then smiled fondly at him. “You’re not.”

He was smiling too. “A bit… But you know, I don’t really want to you to go back there either. But I know that once we’ll be done together, you’ll be able to defend yourself pretty easily.”

She was smiling at him, not saying a thing, and after a short moment he asked “What ?”

She chuckled. “I have a friend.”

He laughed again. “You have two friends.”

“You know what ? This is an amazing feeling.”

He smiled at her. Seeing her this happy was making him feel happy too. He nodded, still grinning. But Wolfgang being Wolfgang, he didn’t really know how to handle the conversation longer so he decided to go back to work. “Alright, we have a lesson to continue.”

“Yes !” she said cheerfully.

They both got on their feet and positioned themselves like before.

“Okay, this time, focus on me, not the fireballs.” He said to her. 

“What do you mean ?” 

“Hum, try to stop me, not what I’m sending to you.” he replied.

“Oh, yeah ! Okay.” She said, still smiling.

He laughed quietly at her, her cuteness was really making it hard for him to ignore how beautiful she was. He cleared his throat. “Let’s take it to the next level. Ready ?”

She looked concerned. “I think so yes.”

He immediately threw a fireball right at her, making her gasp. She stepped backward, taken aback but the projectile vanished right before touching her. She stumbled but managed to stay upright.

“Are you okay ?” he inquired quickly.

She seemed lost, staring into the void and finally let herself fall, sitting crossed leg on the ground.

Wolfgang got closer, squatted next to her, a hand on her shoulder. “Kala, are you alright ?”

“I felt something.” she whispered.

His face illuminated. “Really ?”

A smile appeared on her lips “Yes ! Like a… hum, a shiver, coming from inside. I don’t know, it… it… How to describe it ? I think, it… Tickled ?” she told him in a hurry.

He laughed “Yes ! That’s exactly how it should feel !”

“Really ?”

“Yeah ! I told you it would come ! Alright, let’s continue !” He got up and helped her up on her feet.

She nodded, more ready than ever, determined to make things work.

Wolfgang shot her with another fireball, once again vanishing right before it could hurt her. 

Kala was practically dancing to avoid his shots, it was fascinating to see. She was putting all her energy into it. Wolfgang, on the other hand, was focusing harder to make sure he would not hurt her. It was becoming more complicated but he didn’t want to stop now that they had a clue that it was working. He was keeping an eye on her and another at his projectiles.

Kala was smiling, thrilled about what had just happened. It was the first time she actually wanted this to work and it was disconcerting how much she was curious to know what her powers were. She was staring at him, concentrating on how much she wanting him to stop but at the same time avoiding the fireballs.

Wolfgang was holding his breath, beads of sweat appearing on his temples. He shot at her and she sidestepped to dodge it. She tried to get closer but he threw one at her to make her step backward.

“You’re not making this easy !” She yelled at him playfully.

He smiled. “It’s not meant to be easy !” he yelled back, sending her another fireball.

She laughed and missed a step, tripping on a clump of grass.

Wolfgang was not expecting her to move this way and his last ball was heading directly toward her. The smile left his face and he tried to deviate it from touching her. It was too late and it brushed against her side, burning her clothes.

“Kala !” he immediately ran toward her, putting the fire out by a wave of his hand, while she was falling to the ground.

“Kala, are you okay ?”

She looked up from her burned skin to him, tears in her eyes, looking lost like a wild animal caught into car headlights. She was moaning in pain, a hand hovering her wound. He put his own hand over it and cooled it down as much as he could. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” he whispered, dreadfully angry with himself.

He was kneeling next to her and she instinctively leaned her head on his shoulder, holding on to him as he was chilling the burn with one hand. “Okay, I need you to come with me, I have something to make it feel better, do you think you can walk ?” he asked her rapidly, still managing to sound gentle.

“I don’t know.”

He grabbed her by her shoulders and slowly helped her up. Kala was wincing in pain, not enjoying the feeling of the shreds of her clothes brushing against the wound. She tried to take one step but her breath was short and the pain too intense.

Wolfgang threw one of her arms around his neck and scooped her up, walking as fast as he could to the door, then upstairs. Kala buried her face in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes, feeling oddly safe in his arms despite the whole situation. He entered his room and laid her down on his bed before disappearing into his bathroom. He came back shortly after, holding a large cream pot.

Kala had taken off her coat and was trying to take a look at the burn when he sat next to her.

“You’re going to need to lift your shirt, is it okay ?” concern was showing in his eyes, he not only hurt her but also was asking her to surpass the concerns he knew she had about modesty.

She looked at him, eyes wet, and grabbed to hem of her shirt to hold it up. He helped her to get it away from her injured skin. Her whole abdomen was exposed, the wound being on the side of her stomach.

She was staring at him in silence as he opened the pot he was holding. “It’s an ointment for burns, I’ve been using it since I was a child. Can I ?” he gestured at her side, asking for permission to touch her.

She nodded and he began to spread the cream on her wound, making her wince. “I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t mean to do it.” she whispered.

“I could have avoid it.”

“You did your best.” she said quietly and he looked up to her. He saw himself two minutes ago, deviating the fireball from her It could have been way, way worse. He closed his eyes and shook his head to make the thought go away and focused on her again. Her belly was going up and down at every of her breath. Her skin was glowing from the sweat. It suddenly hit him how intimate this was and tried to prevent his gaze from meeting hers.

His finger was gentle on her. She could see how much he was feeling guilty but she didn’t really have anything better to say that it was not his fault. Her eyes were locked in his direction, not being able to look away. He was doing his best not to hurt her even more but the pain was vivid and a tear rolled down her face.

When he was done he looked up and, as soon as he saw her wet cheek, instinctively put his hand against it, brushing the tear away. “I’m sorry.” he said one more time.

“You don’t need to be.” she told him honestly.

He stared at her for a few seconds before saying “You need to change into something else.” he got up and went into his bathroom again before coming back with a large bandage and bottle of pills. He put the patch on her and checked if it was well placed. Once he was happy with it he asked her “do you think you can walk now ?” while giving her two pills. He disappeared once again in his bathroom to bring her a glass of water.

“I can try.” he heard her say from his bad.

She took the pills, which he informed her was painkillers, and gave it a try. After several grimaces, she managed to stand up, using his body as support. He led her to her own room. She sat on her bed and told him what clothes to pick for her.

“Do you need help to… hum, change ?” he asked her while handing the clothes.

She looked at him and shook her head. “I’m good, it’s not that bad.”

He nodded “Rest for a bit, I’ll check on you later. Do you need anything ?”

“I don’t think so.” she said quietly.

“Right, call me or Felix if you need anything, don’t hesitate.” he said before walking toward the door.

“Wolfgang ?”

He turned to look at her.

“I’m not angry with you.”

He stared at her, this worried look not leaving his face.

“you didn’t mean to do it. I’m going to be okay.”

He nodded and looked down. “If you take a shower, be careful not to remove the bandage.”

“Okay.”

After he closed the door, she took off her burned clothes and put on the new ones. She then laid down carefully, trying not to move her torso too much. Then she pulled the cover over her and closed her eyes.

On the other side of the door, Wolfgang went back to his room to change into something more sporty, intending to go for a run. He went downstairs and found Felix who asked him if everything was okay. He told him what had happened and asked his friend to bring her something to eat later. He then left right away, not leaving Felix any time to reply.

Wolfgang ran faster than usual that day. He was replaying the accident in his mind over and over again. If the fireball had touched her just a little more to the right… 

He shook his head and groaned, angry at himself. He should have seen it coming, he should have stopped when it became too complicated for him to handle. The nasty little voice in his head was speaking to him again and he was trying to silence it. “You’re not worth any more than them.” he knew it was not true but the voice was too loud. “You hurt her.” it was saying in looped playback.

He accelerated again, not paying attention to the landscapes around him, only focusing on tiring himself. But the nasty little voice knew exactly where to hit to hurt him the most. “You’re just like him.” He stopped suddenly, groaning loudly while punching the closest tree trunk. The walkers looked at him but he didn’t care.

“Shut up !” he whispered to the nasty one in his head.

He was aware it was not true but, at the end of the day, the outcome was still the same : she was hurt and he was the only one to blame. He promised her he would not injure her but he apparently wasn’t even capable of keeping a promise as fundamental as this. 

“You’re like him.” “You hurt her.” “It’ll never change.” “This is in your nature.” “Deny it as long as you want but you know it’s true.”

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “Shut up !” he hissed between his teeth, leaning his head on his closed fists against the trunk. He stood like this for a moment, fighting with himself.

Then the voice in his head changed, now speaking with a musical accent. “Wolfgang ? I’m not angry with you.”

He opened his eyes, breathing hard because of his run. He remembered her saying this, sitting on her bed. She had seemed small at this moment, small but confident. He didn’t really know why he was thinking about that, like if this was two things that could not fit together.

He had wanted to hold her so bad at this moment. He had wanted to stay next to her, to make sure she was okay. But at the same time, he was convinced he would only make things worse so he left. He trusted Felix to take of her, he didn’t trust himself.

Kala’s image was stuck in his mind and as much he hated himself for doing this to her, seeing her was somehow comforting.

How she clung to him when he was holding her had taken him by surprise. For some reasons, she trusted him. He could not really understand why but the feeling it was procuring to him was amazing.

He wanted so badly to be the man she thought he was.

Why ? Why did it matter how she was seeing him ?

He pushed the answer back in his mind, not wanting to hear it, and got back to run.

Back in the mansion, Felix knocked on the door of Kala’s room and waited for an answer. She told him to come in so he opened the door and put the platter he was holding on her bedside table.

She sat carefully to be able to face him.

“How are you doing ?” he asked gently.

“It hurts.” she whispered.

“You already took painkillers ?”

She nodded “I have to wait a few more hours before taking more.”

Felix smiled compassionately at her, then pointed out at what he brought to her. “I made you some tea, maybe it can help you relax. And there is some cakes, some biscuits, hum… I took honey too, if you want to put in your tea, I don’t know. I kind of grabbed everything you might like.”

“Thank you.” she said, smiling back. She extended her hand and took the cup of tea, bringing it her lips right away.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a little while but, after several sips, she looked up at him and asked. “How is Wolfgang ?”

“I didn’t really have time to talk to him. He went out for a run right after he left you alone to rest.” He knew it wasn’t a good sign but he didn’t voice it, not wanting to worry her.

She frowned in concern, checking her phone she had left on her pillow. “It was more than an hour ago, he’s still not home yet ?”

“It shouldn’t be long until he shows up, don’t worry.” His voice was calm and steady, something she was not used to. Felix was usually very outgoing, vibrant, and loud. Very loud. She could tell that something was off but maybe he was just concerned about her.

“Does he do that often ?”

Felix sighed shortly. “It happens. When he needs to think.”

She looked down at her cup of tea. “I think he feels guilty. I told him I was not cross with him but I don’t think he believed me.”

“I’m gonna talk to him when he comes back. I’ll make him understand.”

“Thank you.” she said again, looking at him.

A short moment of silence followed before he spoke again. “It’s not your fault either you know. He can be very hard with himself sometimes.”

She hummed while nodding, her gaze now lost into the void. She sighed “Can you tell me when he gets home ?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll do it.”

Then he asked her if she needed anything and she shook her head, thanking him again. Half an hour after she received a text from Felix telling her he didn’t want to risk waking her up but that Wolfgang just got home. She heard him walk down the corridor but he went by her door without even looking at it, disappearing into his own room to take a shower.

Felix came to check on her a couple of times during the afternoon and despite his protests, she insisted on coming downstairs to have dinner with them. It took her longer than what she thought it would, taking one step at a time but she managed to get to the living room without hurting her wound too much.

She found him here, a beer in his hand, sorrowfully looking at her. He walked up to her and helped her to sit on her chair. Once it was done she looked up to him after she grabbed his hand to prevent him from running away again. “Are you okay ?”

He frowned slightly. “I should be the one asking that.”

“I don’t want you to feel bad about what happened.” she said quickly.

He sighed and sat on the chair next to her, Kala’s hand still wrapped around his fingers. “I’m your teacher Kala. It’s my job to be sure you don’t get hurt.”

She looked down at her plate and played with the fork with her free hand. “It won’t help if I tell you once again that you didn’t mean to do it, isn’t it ?”

“It doesn’t matter. In the end, you still got hurt, and that’s all that matters.” he said assuredly.

She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t agree with you.”

His eyes met hers but he stayed silent.

“I don’t agree, because your nature resides in your intentions, not in the results.”

Felix walked into the room at that moment and the two of them let go of each other’s hand. He brought the food and they all started to eat eagerly. They went back to their usual topics but this night felt calmer than the others. Wolfgang was staying close to her, observing her, scanning her for any sign of weakness. When he led her back to her room he told her she could sleep in the next day, he was giving her time to heal before going back to work. She said goodnight with a smile on her face and watched him as he walked to his room. Feeling her gaze on him, he turned around and smiled weakly to her before closing the door behind him.


	4. Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kala remembers home and her powers shows up :D

Kala was looking right at him while he was carefully removing her bandage. In a bit more than a week, Wolfgang had turned into an overcaring nurse, making sure Kala had everything she needed, even though she didn’t really need much. She stopped trying to dissuade him from doing all that, knowing well enough that he would not listen to her. He’s been as injured as her during this incident, and if this was his way of coping, then she would just let him do it.  
He was cleaning her skin very gently around her almost completely healed wound as she was sitting on the side of her bed. He was on a chair next to her, solely focused on his gesture and wasn’t aware of Kala’s gaze, right on him. On his short blond hair, brushing against his forehead. His greenish blue eyes, absorbed by her. His strong nose, slightly wrinkling in concentration. His intriguing lips…

When he looked up to her, she moved her gaze away quickly and straightened her back.

“I think you need just a few more days with the bandage and it will be okay.” Wolfgang said to her.

She nodded. “This is amazing. I’ve burned myself sometimes before, it was looking way better than this but took way longer to heal.”

He smiled gently at her and laughed quietly. “When you burn yourself every two days, you have to find a good remedy. I’ve been using this ointment since I've had my powers. It’s kind of my best friend now.” he told her while grabbing the said ointment from the night table. 

She knitted her brows together “You can burn yourself ?”

He smiled wider “I wish I couldn’t.” He said while shaking his head.

“I kind of assumed you couldn’t.”

“Well, I have a higher tolerance to heat and cold, I can’t deny it.” Wolfgang answered while beginning to spread the medicine on her skin. “But when I was a kid, I injured myself on a daily basis. Now it happens once every two weeks at most, but it still happens.”

Kala stayed silent for a little while before she finally voiced out what was on her mind, “What if I kill myself by accident with my powers ?”

He looked at her with concern, taken aback.

“You told me I was so powerful I would beat everyone up. What if I beat myself up ?”

He sighed through his nose, looking at her right in the eyes. “Kala, you have to trust yourself a bit more. Your powers are a part of you, you can’t kill yourself with them. I get that all of this might be frightening but… Just believe in yourself, okay ?”

“I’m sorry. It’s like I need to find something to be afraid of, sometimes.” She whispered.

“It’s ok.” He said while going back to what he was doing. “I am in no position to blame you for doing this.”

Soon, he was done with her bandage. He put her shirt back in place and got up, carrying the chair to the area of the room where it belonged to. “You’re good to go !”

Kala flattened her shirt. “I don’t really have anywhere to go to.” She laughed.

Since the incident, they didn’t get back to work, letting her have time to heal. She was kind of missing the daily exercises and, even if she was too proud to admit it, she was missing him. He was still spending the day around the house but they didn’t get to spend as much time together as before.

She was staring at him as he looked down. If she didn’t know him, she would have said that he was shy. After a couple of seconds, he said, still looking down “Actually, I wanted to ask you.” He looked up to her “Would you like to go out today ?”

She opened her mouth, not expecting this. “Where ?”

He cleared his throat. “There’s this street market that happens every month today. We need some stuff from there, and since Felix and I are both going, I thought you might want to go with us.”

“That sounds great !” She said with a bright smile. “I would love to, I haven’t gone out in such a long time.”

Wolfgang smiled back at her “Good !” He said gently. “We’re going this afternoon. Just after lunch.”

“I can’t wait. I haven’t been in one of those markets for so long, I used to like it a lot.”

“Well, I’m not sure it’s that amazing, it’s not even a really big one. I hope you won’t be disappointed.” He said, standing in the doorframe.

She shrugged slightly “Going out is going to feel good anyway.”

And indeed, it felt really good. After a whole week spent in bed and basically months trapped inside after she arrived in Berlin, finally seeing the city from inside felt amazing. Kala was wandering around in her big coat, like a child on their birthday, asking a million questions about every building they came across. Felix was answering her with a questionable accuracy while Wolfgang kept quiet, staring at her and looking away quickly every time Felix would catch him doing it. 

“You should have told us that you wanted to go downtown Kala, we would have given you a guided tour !” Felix said, laughing at her enthusiasm.

“I didn’t want to bother you.” She admitted, shyly.

“You can never bother us, dear, you’re way too cute to be annoying.” He retorted.

Kala turned around to face him and pouted. “I’m not cute.”

But, clearly, the look in Wolfgang’s eyes was saying the exact opposite.

Felix busted out of a lively laugh, making Kala narrow her eyes in defiance.

“What ?” She asked, crossing her arms, trying to look cross with him but failing completely.

“I’m sorry Kala, but you’re like… Cuter than a puppy. Especially with that face on. Actually, if you were a puppy, I couldn’t keep myself from petting you all day, that's how cute you are.”

Kala’s only response to that was to raise one of her eyebrows, looking frankly confused. If she would have looked at Wolfgang, she would have seen the exact same look on his face. 

After a couple of seconds, Felix winced slightly. “Ok, that sounded way less creepy in my mind.”

Kala stared at him for a bit and cracked up laughing. She unfolded her arms and started walking again, followed by the others. “Anyways, I’m not cute.”

Felix snorted, exasperated. “Come on ! Wolfie, tell her ! Isn’t she, like, the cutest girl you’ve ever seen ?”

Wolfgang sided eyed him as to tell him that he didn’t want to take part in this discussion. Then he took a look at Kala, who was watching him in anticipation, waiting for his answer. He softened at that sight but started panicking about what to say. As his mind was racing, his mouth let out an “I don’t know.”

Felix gave him a look and frowned. “You’re so useless, Wolfgang.” he retorted, sighting. “I don’t get it, Kala, why don’t you want to be cute ?”

“I’m tired of being called pretty, why can’t I be, I don’t know, terrifying ? For once ? It would be amazing to be able to scare people.” She told him.

“I’m pretty sure Wolfie can teach you that too, he’s good at it.”

“Yeah, thanks, Felix…” Wolfgang said, irritated by his friend’s tendency to be mean without meaning to.

“Come on !” He replied, sighing deeply. “It’s just a joke, since when does it bother you ?”

Kala came closer to him and touched his arm to get his attention “Sometimes jokes can hurt, Felix.” She said gently

“Has everyone decided to be against me today ?” He said dramatically. “You know what ? I’ll leave alone, amongst not fun people.” With those words, he quickened his pace and walked toward the first booth of the now very close market.

Kala frowned in concerned and froze in place, staring at Felix who was going away. 

Wolfgang walked up to her “Don’t worry, he can be moody sometimes.”

She relaxed her shoulders and looked up to him “I should have just accepted the compliment and keep my mouth shut.”

He gave her a serious look “No, you’re right about what you said, don’t be sorry for saying it.”

“I hate upsetting people.” She told him slowly.

He laughed and smiled at her gently “You can’t upset Felix, he upsets himself all alone, like a grown-up.”

She exhaled through her nose and looked away at Felix, now far from them. “Shouldn’t we go talk to him ?”

“Nope !” Wolfgang answered while grabbing her elbow to drag her to the opposite direction. “He’s fine, don’t worry. In ten minutes he’ll have forgotten about it.”

“Sure ?”

“Yes, I’m sure. He’s not even angry there, he just likes to be dramatic. I’ve seen way worse.”

A couple of seconds later, the two of them were wandering between the stands. Wolfgang obviously knew where he was going so she followed him, looking around at the items on sales. She drooled over a whole booth full of various cheeses, smiled at a florist making a bouquet, stopped by a cloth merchant stand and enjoyed some berries that Wolfgang stole for them to eat. She, of course, gave him a sermon but could not help to smile at his mischievous grin.

Every now and then, Wolfgang would stop and buy some things. Kala would always take the opportunity to examine the goods from close booths more closely. And every time, Wolfgang would stare at her, unnoticed. He was telling himself that he was doing it to make sure she was doing okay, just in case. But if he was honest with himself, he was well aware that she was now completely fine. The truth was he simply could not take his eyes off her.

Kala was totally unaware of his gaze on her, lost in her thoughts, thrilled to be there. Here in the noisy crowd, she felt like home. It was the closest to what “home” felt like in her memories. The people all around them were talking loud, chickens were cackling somewhere, startled by a dog barking at them, a child was crying while her mom was telling him off for running away. For anyone, it was a big unpleasant brouhaha, but for Kala, it was like a lullaby.

Wolfgang got closer to her, holding a new bag in his left hand. She turned around and looked at him. “Thank you.”

He looked at her curiously. “For what ?”

“For bringing me here.”

A small grin appeared on his lips “You can go out whenever you want, you know ?”

“Yes, I guess.” She said very quietly. “But thank you anyway, I would not have known about this market without you.”

He pressed his lips together, in a goofy smile “Well, you’re welcome !”

For a moment, they stayed like this, looking at each other. For the first time, it almost felt awkward, like if a third invisible party was taking part in this interaction, urging them to do something else. 

Wolfgang cleared his throat. “I think we’re done.” He told her while lifting the bags to make sure she understood what he was talking about.

An “Oh” escaped her mouth and she has been unable to hide her disappointment.

He noticed it and added quickly “I don’t think Felix’s done yet, we can stay here and wander around. If you want to, I mean.”

“Oh yes ! I would love that !”

He laughed affectionately. “Alright, let’s go !”

She offered to carry some of the bags he was holding, but he denied the proposition.

They walked side by side for a while, doing small talks. Several minutes went before Kala noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. She directed herself toward it without saying a word. Wolfgang followed her up to what appeared to be an Indian food booth. She was looking inside one of the vitrines at some sugar refineries. The seller was busy with some consumers and did not pay attention to them. 

As soon as he was next to her, he asked, “Do you like those ?” pointing at some orange cakes shaped like hunched up spaghetti.

She nodded slowly, still staring at it. Then she looked up to him, “My dad used to bake them for me.” 

“What are they ?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Jalebis, it’s a fried pastry soaked in sugar syrup.”

He chuckled gently “That sounds… very sweetened.”

She laughed too “Yes, we love sugar !” She looked back at the vitrine and pointed at round shaped little cakes “Those are less sweet, they’re called gulab jamun, they are made of milk solids.”

He winced, “It does not sound so appetizing to me either.”

She chuckled again, “Yeah, put this way, they do not look very good, but I assure you, they are great !”

“I believe you.” He said gently “What are your favorites ?”

“Definitely jalebis ! My dad had to hide them while they cooled down a bit so I would not burn myself by eating them right after he made them. That’s how much I love them.”

He laughed livelily “They must be really good.”

“They are ! Oh and those, they’re barfis, they were my sister’s favorites ! I really like them too. I would eat them all just to annoy her.”

Wolfgang noticed that the seller was now free and asked him “Can we have some of those ?”

Kala looked at him in alarm and whispered, “Wolfgang no, I’m good.”

But he ignored her completely. 

The man got closer and spoke with a very thick Indian accent which reminded Wolfgang of Kala’s, “Yes, of course ! I make them myself, you can not find any better cakes in all Berlin !”

“Three of each please.” He said while pointing at the ones they talked about. He turned to face Kala “Do you want something else ?”

“Wolfgang I don’t need it.” She said quietly so the seller would not hear her. 

“But you want it.”

She sighed “Are you doing it because you still feel bad about burning me ?”

A grin appeared on his lips “Maybe.”

“Wolfgang, you don’t have to.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He retorted.

She stared and smiled slowly at him for a couple more seconds before he asked again,

“Do you want something else ?”

“No, thank you.” She answered, moved.

“Here you go !” Said the seller while handing them a bag full of their order. Wolfgang struggled a bit with all the bags he was carrying before he could reach his wallet so Kala took the bag from the seller.

The man leaned over and said to her “vah achchha aur sundar hai, aapako usase shaadee karanee chaahie.*” before chuckling.

Kala froze, confused at first, then she frowned, irritated.

Wolfgang dug into his wallet to find the 5 euros the man was asking for and missed the expression on her face. As soon as they walked away from the stand, he asked her what the man said to her and she answered he told her they should eat them before the end of the week.

He led her to a park and said to her Felix would join them here when he would be done. They found an empty bench, bathing in sunlight, and they sat down.

She was smiling widely in anticipation as she started unwrapping the bakeries. She missed those little things so much and was as excited as when she was a child, waiting for her dad to be done baking them. She took the gulab janums out of the bags first and handed one to Wolfgang.

They were small balls, brown and oily, with an almond pegged into it.

He looked at her curiously, an eyebrow raised, remembering what she had told him they were made of.

“I promise you they’re great ! Don’t look at me like that !” She said, laughing. Then she took a bite of hers and watched him do the same.

He chewed on it a couple of time and his expression changed. After a bit, he swallowed it and said “Ok, I got to admit I was wrong, they’re not bad.”

“I told you !” She said to him while putting all of the rest of hers in her mouth.

He did the same and once he was done with it, he added “They’re not very tasty though.”

“Yeah, they’re not the best, but they taste like home to me.” She said while closing her eyes in delight, taking her time to swallow it.

He looked at her, a smile imposing itself on his lips. 

When she opened her eyes again, she took the remaining cake in her hand and extended her arm toward him “Do you want to share it with me ? Or maybe we should keep it for Felix.”

He shook his head, “No, the third one of each is for you, you can keep it for later.”

She let down her hand with the last gulab janum on her lap, without breaking eyes contact. “Thank you.” She said quietly. After a very short moment, she clarified “As much as I enjoy “nice Wolfgang”, you need to stop feeling guilty about what happened. You don’t need to make it up to me.”

He pursed his lips together and nodded quickly before looking away.

Kala put the pastry back in the bag and grabbed two of the white rectangular ones. She handed one to him “This one is better !”

He took it between his fingers “What is this one’s name again ?”

“Barfi ! They’re made with dense milk and they have different flavors based on how you make it.” She immediately took a bite and hummed in happiness.

She turned to him “These ones are peanut flavored. My mother and I would make some to give to Ganesha, she told me he liked peanuts.” She said with a mouthful smile.

He took a bite too and was positively surprised. “Ok, I really like barfis.”

“I told you !” She exclaimed. “India makes the best food in the world.”

He quickly swallowed and said “Please, say that to Felix.” before his teeth met the cake again.

She laughed, a hand on her mouth. “I’m not very objective, my father owns a restaurant, he is a chef. Well, I guess he still is.” She looked down, any trace of a smile left her face suddenly, and she eventually closed her eyes. She took a quick breath and looked up again, tried to smile. “Sorry, I haven’t seen them in while.”

“You’re not in contact with them anymore ?” He asked, gently.

She shook her head to say no.

He stared at her, now serious “If your father owns a restaurant, it must be easy to find it.”

She shook her head again “I don’t think they want to hear from me.”

He hesitated a while before asking “Why ?”

She took a breath “The last time I saw my family, was when those men took me with them. They were happy. They made me go with them.” She looked up to him with red eyes.

He straightened his back to sit upright and got slightly closer to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you cry.”

“It’s okay.” She said with an attempt at a smile, wiping a tear away with her fingers.

“Hey…” He said, gently, rubbing her back. “I told you, I know those technics. It’s more likely that they lied to your parents.”

“Maybe.” She said with a sigh. “But I can’t take that risk. I don’t want to be confronted with them telling me they did it on purpose. I can’t.”

He extended his arm to wrap it around her. “Yeah, that’s understandable.” He whispered.

She took a deep breath and straightened her back. “It’s okay. We went to a market and I have good cakes, there is no reason to be sad. Today is a good day.”

“But it brought back some bad memories.” He said under his breath.

“No. No Wolfgang. Don’t try to make it sound that you did something wrong. It was very nice of you to buy those for me, and I’m very happy and grateful you did. Don’t feel guilty about that.” She told him, with a new energy.

He looked at her with his brows knitted, worried.

“Promise me.” She added, her own brows raised.

He stared at her for a couple more seconds. “Okay, I promise you.”

“Good, now try this !” The smile on her face came back as she handed him one of the jalebis. “They taste like heaven.”

He smiled back and took the jalebi from her, biting into it. After a short amount of time, he confessed “Okay, they’re really good.”

“Yes ! This is perfection.”

He chuckled and took another bit. “Very, very… Very sweet though.”

“That is exactly why they are so good !” She retorted, laughing. She then put her own jalebi in her mouth and moaned in delight, closing her eyes again.

Wolfgang couldn’t help his gaze from falling on her lips. He stared at them for a little while, taking advantage of the fact that she could not see him. He could not keep his eyes away from her face.

He froze in realization. The day he met her, he imagined what her lips would feel like around his cock, like he always did with girls he was attracted to. But right now, all he could think about was how they would feel against his own lips.

Here on this bench, with his arm around her and his gaze on her lips, Wolfgang fought hard against his desire to kiss her. It was not that he gave any shit she was married, he couldn't care less about that. Something else was telling him it was a very bad idea.

First of all, the fact that she considered him as a friend, then because only creeps kiss people like that and, eventually, because… Because he was Wolfgang, and he knew exactly how it would end. 

He removed his arm from around her, looked away, and waited for his urge to go away.

Soon after that, Felix showed up, and the three of them headed back to the mansion.

The next day, Wolfgang decided to get back to work, but with still another method.

As they both went outside by the rear door Kala winced humoristically. “The last time we went outside with you saying we were going to try something else, it did not end well.” She teased him.

He chuckled quietly, “We’re not doing stupid stuff today.”

They crossed the backyard and she followed him toward the greenhouse. He opened the door to let her in and her eyes widened in amazement. They were surrounded by small and not so small trees, which foliage was growing against the glass ceiling. The ground had been dug to gain some ceiling height which was around six meters high. Besides the trees, there was a large variety of plants, flowers, and bushes. It was large enough to accommodate a tiny forest.

“Oh my… Wolfgang, this is amazing !” She exclaimed, looking around at everything.

“Yeah, my grandfather loved big things.”

“Did he build that ?”

“Well… He paid other people to build it. Probably.”

She looked at him, teasingly “One day, are you going to tell me how you ended up owning this whole mansion ?”

He grinned to hide his awkwardness and looked down. “Maybe one day.”

She was gonna argue when she noticed something in the background “Oh my God, is this a fountain ?” She said while heading toward it.

“That’s it, I’m staying here, I’m never going to leave.” She said with excitement as she reached the said fountain.

It was a round one, with three level in the middle on which the water was cascading down to the big basin. Kala extended her hand to touch the water.

Wolfgang, who followed her, sat down on the edge of the fountain.

She looked up to him “Wait, don’t tell me you are going to start a fire in here.”

Suddenly, an outraged look made its way to his face “No ! This is my favorite place of the whole mansion, I would never do that.”

“Oh, good.” She said, sitting down too. “I would have been cross with you otherwise.”

He snorted. “Good thing that’s not my intention, then.”

Kala laughed quietly and took a deep breath of the fresh air, full of various scents of flowers. “So… What are we doing then ?” She asked gently.

“Meditation.”

She turned to look at him.

“This is where I come to meditate, the sound of the water helps.”

“You ? Meditating ?” She asked, clearly very surprised by this revelation.

“Yes.”

“Oh, no sorry.” She interrupted him. “That was really rude of me. I just didn’t think you were the meditation type.”

“Yeah, Felix likes to give me shit about that too.”

“It sounds like him.” She said with an amused smile.

Wolfgang nodded in approval. He then turned to face her and sat crossed-legged on the edge, which was large enough for them not to lose their balance. “Alright, let’s get started.”

She looked at him, a bit uncomfortable and confused. “I have never done this before, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.”

He smiled. “It’s okay, just do the same as me.”

She sat like him, facing him.

“Close your eyes.”

She did as she was told. “Don’t laugh at me if I do something stupid.”

“I won’t, and you won’t do anything stupid. Now focus on your breath.” He waited for her to do so. “Try to take a deeper breath. Inhale.”

They both did it, feeling the air feeling their lungs.

“Exhale.”

The sound of their breath melded with the sound of the water. He made her take ten big breathes before he started to lead her to a meditation state. She let the sound of his voice lull her slowly until she almost felt like falling asleep.

He was talking in a small and peaceful voice. “Now picture us last week, when it almost worked, before the incident.”

Silence

“We’re in the backyard, in the middle of the grass, I’m throwing fireballs at you. Are you there with me ?”

“Yes.” She said as she exhaled, in the same small voice.

“Good. Can you get to the moment when you felt something ? You stumble, you fall, you feel a shiver, it’s tickling.” He said, repeating her words to describe the feeling.

She hums to say yes.

A smile appeared on his face.

“Try to relive the moment, the exact instant you felt that.”

She took another deep breath and focused on her memories of this moment.

His smile widened.

“If possible, feel the magic inside you. How it manifested itself at that moment.”

Her brows were knitted in concentration.

He was now wearing a broad grin.

“I give you some time to try to connect with this part of you.”

Kala tried her best to do so. She almost felt like she was back then, a shiver ran down her spine. Her eyes were closed tight and could not see Wolfgang’s shoulders starting to shake as his smile was turning into a laughter.

Soon he was chuckling quietly. Then less quietly.

Kala lost her concentration and as he started to get louder she asked “What ?”

“Nothing, sorry.” Wolfgang answered, concentrating on his breath to stop laughing. 

She tried to focus again but his quiet laughter turned into a loud one.

“What is so funny ?” She asked again, starting to be annoyed.

“Sorry, I’m having the giggles, not the right time for it.” He took a deep breath and managed to stay quiet for a bit

Kala took the opportunity to get back to her memories again.

As he exploded out of laughter, she opened her eyes, now clearly annoyed. “Are you laughing at me ?”

“I’m not, I promise.” He said, out of breath.

“Then why are you laughing like this ?” She challenged him, starting to get angry.

He was laughing madly now and could not even answer her.

“Stop it, Wolfgang ! This is not funny ! Stop mocking me !”

“I can’t !” He said, almost choking up. He suddenly lost his balance and felt on the ground, right beside the fountain.

Kala got up and took a step back from him. She was getting upset by his attitude. “Stop it !” She yelled.

In an instant, he stopped completely and was now catching his breath on the ground. He looked up to her, his brows knitted, lost.

Tears were appearing in her eyes. If he was able to stop so suddenly, it was definitely forced. She could not believe he could scoff at her like this.

He opened his mouth, shocked. “Fuck !” he exhaled, like realizing something. He got on his feet quickly “Kala, you were scared I was gonna laugh at you.” He said to her, getting closer.

She took another step back. “Yes, and this is exactly what you did.” She retorted, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“You convinced yourself I was going to make fun of you !” He exclaimed, running a hand in his hair, ecstatic. “Of course !”

“Are you happy about that ?” She almost shouted, totally taken aback by his reaction. Several more tears felt on the floor.

His own eyes started to get red. He got closer to her quickly “Kala, you’re making me do this.”

“What ?” She asked, astonished. “Are you crying too ?”

“Yes !” He exclaimed, excited. “Because you’re crying, you’re making me cry just like you made me laugh !”

She stared at him

“This is your power Kala, emotions.”

She frowned deeper, kept quiet for a couple of seconds. “What ?” She whispered.

“This makes so much sense ! The first day we practiced together, I talked about my mother and I cried, this never happens to me. You thought I must be sad so you made me cry ! The day of the accident, you wanted to continue so bad you passed this on to me so I didn’t stop even if I knew it was a bad idea ! And this morning with Felix, that’s why he got upset so easily !”

Kala opened her mouth but nothing came out. She sat back on the edge of the fountain, stunned.

“I assumed your powers were combat powers like most people because you were so powerful. But it’s even better !” He said to her, a wide smile on his face.

She looked at him, very confused. “I can make people laugh and cry, how is this powerful ?”

He sat down next to her “Kala, you can make people feel what you want. Don’t you realize what that means ?”

She stared at him

“You can stop wars before they even start. You can make people do whatever you want them to do.”

“Oh my god.” She said, looking at him, her browns still knitted. “This is even worse than everything I imagined.” She said, covering her face with her hands.

“What ?” Asked Wolfgang gently.

“I’m a manipulator ! This is awful. I don’t want this.” She started crying again.

Wolfgang calmed down immediately. “Hey.” He said gently, “Kala. Hey, no, don’t cry.”

He tried to soothe her by rubbing her back.

“I think it’s the best thing that could have happened.” He said quietly.

“Oh really ?” She retorted with a humorless laugh.

“Yes, you said you didn’t want to hurt anyone. You can’t hurt people with this, even better, you can stop people from hurting others.”

She looked down, pensive. “I didn’t see it like this.”

“I think it suits you perfectly.” He said, trying to be reassuring.

“But I don’t want to manipulate people.”

“You don’t have to.” He told her gently.

She snorted, ironic “You don’t know my husband. As soon as he learns about it, he’s going to make me do so many horrible things.”

Wolfgang smiled at her, a true, fresh smile. “What if you make him hate you so much… That he files for divorce ?”

She turned to look at him, a new light in her eyes. She put a hand on her mouth, smiling under it. She started to laugh too. “Do you think I can do that ?”

“There is only one way to find out.”

They both stayed quiet for a bit, contemplative of what the future might hold for her.

“Oh, Ganesha.” She concluded.

He chuckled. “Yeah, oh Ganesha.”

They stayed there for another hour, trying to see what else she could do. He asked her to make him cry again, to make him sad. Then they explored different levels of surprise, disgust or fear. To finalize today’s session on a lighter note, she made him laugh again, which she realized, was only a level of happiness.

She could get him to do everything she wanted, but what he wasn’t telling her was that she didn’t need any powers to make him smile.

Later, when they told Felix about it, he declared party time opened and planed a whole soirée to celebrate. After dinner, they all gathered in the living room and the boys brought every alcohol bottles they could find.

“What do you want to drink Kala ? I’m the king of cocktails, ask me anything.” Said Felix enthusiastically.

She winced in response. “I’m not used to alcohol, I would rather have something else.”

Felix stared at her, in shock. He looked at Wolfgang “Did she just said what I think she said ?”

Wolfgang chuckled and leaned over to say to Kala “I think you just broke him.”

“I’m the one broken ?” Felix exclaimed. “Kala, there is no way you’re not having at least one drink tonight, how do you want to celebrate without alcohol ?”

“Huh, I don’t know.” She said

“Felix, don’t bother her.”

Felix looked at him in alarm “Are you broken too ? Kala, what have you done to my Wolfie ?”

She laughed at that. “Nothing, I promise ! Ok, maybe one drink won’t kill me.”

Felix smiled brightly at her. “That’s all I wanted to hear !”

He poured her a bit of vodka and added a lot of fruit juice over it. “Is this your first drink ?” He asked as he handed it to her.

She cleared her throat “Of course not.” She answered, avoiding his gaze.

He laughed again. “This is so your first drink.” He sat down next to her. “Dear Kala, it’s an honor to be a witness of your first bender.”

She shook her head. “I’m not getting drunk tonight, sorry.”

He raised his drink. “We’ll see about that. To Kala’s powers !”

“To Kala’s powers !” Wolfgang repeated, and they all clink their glasses. Then he whispered to her “We did it.”

What Kala didn’t plan, was that it would only take one drink for her to be drunk. Soon she was dancing in the middle of the living room with Felix, her third drink in her hands.

“Oh my god, I never had so much fun !” She shouted to be louder than the music as she slouched on the couch, next to Wolfgang. “I’m so drunk, Param would beat the hell out of me if he saw me,” she laughed.

Wolfgang frowned deeply, meeting Felix’s gaze, the same worried look on their faces. He looked back at Kala and wrapped a protective arm around her instinctively.

“Why didn’t we do that sooner ? I love partying !” She added.

“Good question.” Answered Felix. “Why did we stop doing this every weekend ?” He asked Wolfgang.

“Because alcohol is expensive, Felix.”

He pouted in response. “Yeah, good point.” He said before kneeling in front of the coffee table to pour himself another drink.

In front of him, Kala leaned her head on Wolfgang’s shoulder. “I love you.” She said

Wolfgang froze.

“I love you two, you’re the best people I’ve ever met.” She continued

He breathed out.

Felix sat next to her, so she was now between the two of them. “We love you too, dummy.” He said to her. “Oh, Wolfgang ! Let’s show her our trick !” He yelled, out of the blue.

“Why ?” He said.

“Because it’s cool.” He exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world, clearly getting drunk too.

“What trick ?” Kala asked, sitting straight again

“See ? She wants to see it !”

Wolfgang rolled his eyes and removed his arm from around her to use his hand. He waved it in the air and tons of snowflakes appeared in front of them, on the other side of the coffee table.

Felix extended his palm, making the snowflakes swirl in a tiny tornado.

Kala laughed and clapped her hands. “This is amazing !”

“Yeah I know, we can do it with fire too.” He boasted.

“That must be so cool, I wanna see that too.” She implored.

Wolfgang shook his head, smiling gently, stunned by the absurdity of this conversation. “Maybe another day.” He told her.

She sighed in disappointment, making him realize how drunk she was to not understand why creating a tornado of fire inside the house was not a good idea.

The party went on for a couple of hours before she started to fall asleep on the couch. They told her to go to bed so she got up but almost fell right after. She managed to stay upright but stumbled over the edge of the carpet.

“Ok, I’m gonna go with you.” Wolfgang said, laughing at her clumsiness.

“Ah, Thank you.” She groaned.

“Goodnight Kala.” Felix shouted, and she shouted it back to him right after.

He helped her through the stairs and led her to her room. He was about to say goodnight when she turned around and wrapped her arms around is neck.

He stopped breathing.

“Thank you.” She said

He tried to remember yesterday, when he noticed his urge to kiss her and said to himself how bad of an idea it was. But now, she was pressed against him and he simply was not able to resist his want to wrap his arms around her.

“For what ?” He whispered.

“For being my friend.”

He closed his eyes and let his nose slide into her wild hair. He inhaled. “Thank you for being mine too.”

“I don’t want to go back.” She said, her voice shaking suddenly. “I want to stay here with you.”

He held her tighter. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I have never felt this safe in my entire life.” She sniffled.

“Hey, don’t cry. We will never stop protecting you. And you have your powers now, no one can harm you anymore.”

She tightened her grip around him. “Promise ?”

“Promise.”

She unwrapped her arms from around him and turned around to enter her room. She put her hand on the door to close it but stopped to look at him.

“Goodnight Wolfgang.”

He smiled at her. “Goodnight Kala.”

She closed the door, leaving him alone in the hallway. He contemplated what had just happened. How good it felt to have her this close.

He had no idea what was happening to him and it was terrifying.

Or, more precisely, he knew exactly what was happening and that was even more terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Hindi for “he’s nice and handsome, you should marry him.
> 
> I hope you like Kala's powers ! Please tell me what you think about it. I thought it would suit her perfectly since she's so empathic.
> 
> Also, other special thanks to Soni who helped me with the Indian food <3


	5. Doubting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wolfgang doesn't know what to think about his feelings  
> Param wonders if Kala has made any progress

The sun was already high in the sky when Kala appeared in the kitchen. She slowly sat at the table where Wolfgang and Felix were having a late breakfast. Eyes half-shut, she put her head on her folded arms on the table, withdrawing into a darker environment with a quiet groan.

Felix and Wolfgang smiled at each other, frankly amused.

“No comment.” They heard Kala say.

Wolfgang hid his wide smile in his coffee mug while Felix stood up to grab some aspirins and a glass of water. He placed those on the table and told her to take it.

She slowly rose and grabbed the glass “Why did you let me drink that much ?”

As she took the aspirin, Felix answered : “five drinks, that’s all you’ve had.”

“Everyone in this house has free will, Kala,” added Wolfgang.

“You could have at least warned me.” She whispered.

Felix started to laugh, making Kala side eye him with an intensity she didn’t know she could have. He lost his smile and cleared his throat, looking at her seriously from across the table. “Kala, dear, you only had five drinks. Five very diluted drinks” he said to her, emphasizing the “very”. “How on earth did you want us to know it would give you a hangover ?”

She didn’t answer, swallowing the aspirins, still giving him a look.

Wolfgang, on the chair to her left, put his coffee mug on the table “We could have thought about it.”

Felix gave him a confused look but didn’t have time to say anything before Kala spoke.

“Thank you, Wolfgang, at least one person here is nice”

He smiled at her in response but didn’t say anything. She grabbed the coffee pot and poured herself a mug before going back to the darkness of her folded arms.

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a little while before Wolfgang put a hand on her back to have her attention. She opened one eye and directed it toward him.

“Go back to bed, there is nothing you can do except wait and drink a lot of water. You’ll be better in your room.” 

She straightened to talk to him properly “But we have to work, we already missed a whole week.”

He chuckled quietly. “No, I don’t think we’re going to work today. We’ll see how you feel later.”

“You’re sure ?”

He nodded and watched her slowly getting up before leaving the kitchen.

Felix watched him stare at her and still had his eyes on him when Wolfgang looked back at his friend.

“What ?” he asked when Felix didn’t look away from him.

“What the hell is going on ?” he said, still staring.

Wolfgang looked at him curiously as to tell him he didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“I’ve been quiet long enough, Wolfie. I know you, what the fuck is happening ?”

“Nothing,” he answered shortly, caught off guard.

“Come on !” Felix almost shouted. “I’ve seen you two. Well, I’ve seen you, staring at her all the time, defending her no matter what against fucking jokes. So my question is : what is happening ?”

Wolfgang sighted, annoyed. “And my answer is : nothing.”

“I might look like I am but I’m not completely stupid, Wolfie.”

Starting to be cross, Wolfgang got up and went to put his mug in the sink. “Well, this might be the proof that you are, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Felix rolled his eyes and chuckled. “And the fact that you’re getting angry is definitely a proof that there is something to talk about.”

Wolfgang let his shoulder fall, defeated, before letting out a sigh. “What do you want me to tell you, Felix ?”

He softened, seeing that his brother was more vulnerable than usual. “I don’t know… That you like her, maybe. That’s human you know, I’m not that mean.”

Wolfgang looked up at him and stayed quiet for a few seconds. “What would it change ?”

Felix stared at him again, stunned by his confession. “You like her ?”

“I don’t know, Felix,” he said, sitting down again at the table.  
Wolfgang stared at his fingers while his friend was examining his expression.

After a short while, Felix asked again : “did you guys kiss or sleep together ?”

Wolfgang frowned hard and looked up at him “No. Of course not.”

“Well, it’s not that obvious !” he retorted “But it’s good, Singh would kill us if you fucked his wife.”

“Don’t give a shit about him” he responded, looking away.

“Yeah, be he does give a shit about who fucks his wife.”

Wolfgang gaze went back to Felix, sharp “How would he even learn about it ?”

The other one opened his mouth to answer but didn’t have the time to say anything before Wolfgang spoke again, aggressive : “Do you want her to go back there ? Seriously ?”

Felix stared at him for a few seconds, slowly understanding. “You… You want her to come with us ?” he said, calmer.

The tall one sighed and looked back at his fingers. “Yesterday she told me she didn’t want to go back there. She said she wanted to stay with us.”

“What did you tell her ?”

“That we would figure it out.”

Felix rubbed his right hand on his face and sighted too. “How are we gonna do that without the money ? I don’t think Singh’s going to pay us if we run away with his wife.”

“We can ask him to give us half of what we agreed on now that Kala has her powers. I can try to negotiate with Fuch too.”

“What do you want to negotiate with him ?”

“He might let me keep a bit of my heritage if it allows us to vanish from Berlin.”

Felix looked at him, concerned. “I thought you never wanted to see that money ever again.”

Wolfgang dove his gaze right into his friend’s “As I said : we need to figure it out. If it can allow the three of us to run from Berlin, then let’s do it.”

“Wow, you must really be into her to do that. No offense but I didn’t think it was this serious.”

Wolfgang frowned again, almost angry. “This is not about how I feel about her,” he said, really serious, keeping himself from raising his voice. “There is no way she can go back to that man, no matter who she is. What the fuck Felix?”

“Yeah yeah, no, I, I just didn’t expect you to… I mean, to confess so easily. And I never in a million years thought you would want her to come with us. Like… Helping her to get out, yeah, of course, I was planning on this too, but taking her with us ? I didn’t expect this,” Felix answered in a hurry, trying not to piss his friend off even more.

Wolfgang continued to look at him with the intensity he kept for sensitive matters, communicating that he was not in the mood for this kind of behavior.

After a short moment of silence, Felix spoke again, “What are you gonna do ?”

“About what ?”

“Well… About that,” he gestured at him “Your feelings. Are you gonna tell her ?”

He leaned back on his chair, taking a breath. “No.”

Felix gave him a curious look. “Why ?”

Wolfgang kept quiet, looking away.

A smile appeared on his friend’s lips. “Are you scared to tell her ?” As Wolfgang continued to not say a word, Felix started to laugh. “Oh man. My Wolfie got it hard for a girl, who knew this day would come.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what the problem is, Felix.”

“What ?”

“That’s her magic. She makes people feel how she wants. How can I know those are my feelings ?”

Felix stared and rose his eyebrows in realization. “Do you think she could do that ?” he asked softly.

“Not intentionally. Maybe. I don’t know,” he let out a big breath and run his hand in his hair. “She has the capacity to do so. She does not control it yet, so yeah, it’s a possibility.”

Felix stayed quiet for a few seconds, considering. Then he said cautiously. “But what if she’s not doing anything ?”

Wolfgang looked at his fingers on his lap, bouncing his left leg, nervous. “What if she is ?” he mumbled.  
Felix sighed, biting the inside of his cheek as he was thinking of something to say. “Look, it’s fifty-fifty then. There is only one way to find out the truth.”

Wolfgang looked up at him again

“You have to talk to her.”

He laughed at that, a humorless chuckle. “This is not me Felix. I do not… I don’t know, get attached ? You know me, I don’t do stuff like that.”

Felix mirrored his laugh. “So because it never happened to you before, you think it can never happen at all ? Before, you were involved in a whole fucking dynasty of mobsters, that does not help to want to find someone. Now that getting a girlfriend without risking her life is possible, I don’t think it’s inconsistent.” 

“Yeah, we’ll see,” he gave in.

His friend continued to stare at him for a while, waiting for him to talk more about it. As it didn’t come, he spoke again : “How do you feel about her ? like, do you just like to be with her or do you want to sleep with her or…”

“No, I don’t want to sleep with her, Felix !” Wolfgang interrupted, annoyed.

He smiled in response. “You. Wolfgang. You like a girl and do not want to sleep with her ? You’re fucking in love, I’m telling you that.”

Wolfgang let out a final exasperated sigh before getting up. “You’re not helping at all.”

“Wait ! No, Wolfie !” he tried to stop his friend, following him in the hallway. “I just wanted to talk about it, to help you figure it out !”

But Wolfgang disappeared behind the rear door, on his way to the greenhouse.

Felix let his arms fall to his side, sighing. He stared at the door for a few moments before he decided to start doing what he had planned for the day.

\----

Kala rolled on her back, taking her head out from under the cover. She lightly ran her fingers on her face, trying to focus on the sensation in procured instead of the stabbing pain beneath her skull. She was starting to feel a bit better now. She grabbed her water bottle and drank almost half of it, leaving it almost empty. She put in back on the bedside table and noticed her phone’s notification light was flashing in the darkness of her room.

She grabbed it too and groaned loudly at the luminosity of the screen. She adjusted it to the minimum lightness before checking her notifications. A text from Param.

Oh no.

She recalled getting texts from him yesterday night, but she was so drunk. She stared at her screen for a whole minute before taking a big breath and clicked on their conversation. She closed her eyes as the messages appeared, too afraid of what she might have answered him. After several more long seconds, she finally gathered enough courage to open one eye.

She let out a big breath as she saw that she didn’t text him back at all. She didn’t mess up.

Param, 10:17 PM : How are you babe ?

Param, 10:36 PM : Doing some magic tricks ? ;)

Param, 9:23 AM : Why are you not answering ?

She left him on “read” the two first times, she knows he’s angry at her now. What can she say ? She knows he’s going to imagine things. Lying to him was never a good idea but telling him the truth would be even worse.

Kala started typing slowly “Sorry, I was busy”. She stared at her screen, sighted and erased the text what she has typed. Busy with what ? She needed to be specific or he would freak out.

Would he believe her if she told him they worked until late in the day ?

A little green light appeared on the top of her screen, indicating he was now online. Her breath stopped. She had to find something now.

Kala, 10:54 AM : I’m sorry, we had a late lesson last night, I was tired and went to bed right after. I think we’re almost there. What about you my love, how are you ?

She pressed “send” with a big sigh, hoping it would be enough. She chose not to tell him about her powers, fearing that he would ask her to come back right away.

Param opened her text immediately. Kala touched her screen to prevent it from going on sleep mode, waiting for his answer. Several minutes went by, and when the green light disappeared, indicating he was offline, she turned her screen off and closed her eyes. Silence from him was not a good sign, but it was better than facing his anger.

She grabbed one her pillow and pressed it against her chest, still holding her phone in her right hand. She curled herself up around it, needing some comfort. _“You’re safe here, he’s not going to come here just for this,”_ she told herself.

She remembered last night when she told Wolfgang she didn’t want to go back with Param. The memory is blurry in her mind but she knows she hugged him at some point. She can’t remember when was the last time someone hugged her sincerely like that. She was definitely very drunk when it happened but she was able to recall the feeling of being in his arms clearly. She would have described it as warm, comforting and mostly just safe. She could have used some warm comforting safety right now actually.

She checked her phone, just in case she would have missed it vibrating in her hand. Param still didn’t have answered. She locked it again and threw it on the other side of the bed.

Kala hugged her pillow tighter and closed her eyes. She forced Param out of her mind, determined to not let him ruin her days here. Her husband was replaced by something else in her mind, by warm and comforting arms, slowly locking around her, creating a safe bubble out of the world.

She opened her eyes quickly. She could not let herself think about being with a man that was not her husband, she knew that. But why ? Did Param really deserve her loyalty ? Clearly not… She just wanted to be held, what could be wrong about that ?

Thought, she asked herself another question. Why Wolfgang ? Why was she craving his arms and not Felix’s ? She could just tell herself that was because she only had been in his arms and not in Felix’s but she knew it was not true. There was something else.

A new wave of pain washed over her and she groaned quietly. Was this weird painful knot in her stomach a new symptom of her hangover ? 

Between this and Param, she needed something good. Just one little thing to make her feel better. After all, how could her thoughts hurt anyone outside of her mind ? How could anyone ever know that she was thinking about that ? And Param really didn’t deserve anything from her…

Kala closed her eyes again and tried to work on her breathing to even it out. This sent her right back to the day before when Wolfgang helped her meditate. She heard his voice telling her to inhale and exhale slowly. She let this memory lull her into a less anxious state. Soon though, his arms were back. She let herself picture them wrapping around her. She focused on how it would make her feel to have him close once again. His arms were now attached to a body in her mind. She pictured him right behind her, pressed against her back.

She didn’t fight against it, rather, she let this sooth her. The idea of falling asleep snuggled against him was enough to take her mind off anything else. She took a breath, sinking in this almost sensation. She wondered how it would really feel like it was not just in her head and her stomach ache got worse. She wrote a mental note to herself to never drink again.

The sound of her phone’s tone took her off of her reverie.

Param, 11:03 AM : Are you making any progress ?

She started typing “Yes, Wolfgang told me I’m almost there.”

She proofread it, just to be sure and decided to change _Wolfgang_ for _Mr. Bogdanow_. She felt his imaginary arms holding her tighter as she pressed “send”.

He answered almost immediately.

Param, 11:05 AM : I’ll call him later.

Kala, 11:05 AM : Ok :)

She stared at her screen, again. As always. Too scared to miss one of his text and making him angry. When he went offline again, she locked her screen and put her phone on the bedside table. She reached her bottle and drunk all that was left inside, then closed her eyes, and tried to sleep. Still, an imaginary blond man was beside her when she drifted into darkness.

She woke up much later and automatically checked her phone. First, she saw no notification from Param, then she saw that it was almost three in the afternoon. She stretched, relieved to feel that her headache was almost gone, and turned on her light. She noticed a food tray on the desk. She smiled at the gesture.

Kala then got up and opened the shutters of her windows and sat at the desk to eat what they had brought to her. She didn’t really have much appetite and her stomach ache was not helping. She played with her food with the tip of her fork for a long time before giving up on the idea of emptying her plate. When she was done, she took a shower and got dressed, before going downstairs.

She heard the TV playing and, after a quick trip to the kitchen to take care of her tray, she headed to the main living room where she found Felix watching a movie. When she entered his field of view he turned to face her and this bright smile of his found its way to his lips.

“Hey ! How do you feel ?” he asked.

“Much better, thank you. There is only that stomach ache that won’t go away.” she answered, leaning on the doorframe.

“Nausea ?” he queried, concerned.

She shook her head “No, like a big knot that does not want to get undone. It took my appetite away.”

Felix stared at her, thinking.

Saying that he was not going to speak any time soon, she added : “Don’t worry, it may just be stress after all, it does that sometimes too.”

“What are you stressing about ?” he asked genuinely.

She sighed and ran her tongue over her lips. She seemed to hesitate before saying : “Param texted me. He wanted to know if I was making progress and… I could not bring myself to tell him the truth.” She paused and added, more serious “I really don’t want to go back.”

Felix paused his movie and turned around to face her completely. “Hey… Wolfie told me about last night. We won’t let that happen ok ? We stick together now.”

“Thank you,” she said, duller than she would have wanted to. She could not really bring herself to believe that. After a short pause, she frowned and continued : “What did Wolfgang tell you about last night ?”

Felix had to fight hard not to grin. Something must have happened between the two of them and Wolfgang did not say a word about it. “That you told him you did not want to leave, basically,” he said, cautious not to show any particular emotions.

“Oh,” she let out, hiding badly her disappointment. She had hoped Wolfgang had enjoyed being in her arms as much she had enjoyed being in his. She had hoped he would have talked about it with Felix. That what she would have done if she had a best friend to talk to.

“Why ? Did he forgot to mention something ?” he asked, way too curious to know what his brother purposely forgot to tell him.

Kala worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s just that…” she hesitated. “I was quite drunk… And I kind of hugged him ?” She ran a hand in her hair. “I don’t know. I really don’t want things to be awkward between us. He didn’t seem to mind when I saw him this morning but… I don’t know him as well as you do, so maybe… I don’t know.”

“I really don’t think he minds,” Felix answered way too quickly. When he realized he might have been way too obvious, he corrected : “I mean, he does not care about stuff like that.”

She forced a smile on her face. “Ok, good.”

They stayed in an almost awkward silence for a few seconds, then Felix spoke again.

“Wolfgang’s in the greenhouse if you’re looking for him.”

“Oh, hum yes, thank you !” Kala replied, a little embarrassed. “I’ll… I’ll go see if he wants to work today,” she added, pointing the rear door at the end of the hallway with her fingers. She let her arms fall at her side and, after a final awkward smile at Felix, headed toward the door.

When Felix heard it close, he began to shook his head, stunned. “Those two fucking have a crush on each other,” he said to himself.

\----

Wolfgang was kneeling in front of a grove when she found him. He was in the middle of transplanting some flowers into the ground. He heard her steps from afar and looked up, then smiled when her eyes met his.

As she saw him, a weird wave of guilt took over her. It was one thing to imagine him by her side in her bed, but it was another to have him in front of her. It almost felt like they shared something that only she could remember. She knew it was a silly thing to think about, and this feeling was unjustified but, still, now it felt wrong. She felt like not telling him was like lying to him.

“Hi !” she greeted him when she arrived next to him.

“Hello,” he responded genuinely, a smirk still on his lips, “Feeling better ?”

“Yes, much better, thank you.”

He got on his feet to be at her height. 

“Param texted me,” she continued quickly, eager to have something to talk about to avoid awkward silences. “He wanted to know where we’re at.”

Wolfgang nodded, encouraging her to go on.

She joined her hands and played with her fingers, nervous “I told him that you think I’m almost there. I didn’t want him to know the truth.”

“Ok,” he said, unconvinced.

“He said he would call you,” she added.

Wolfgang clapped and rubbed his hands together to clean them from the dirt. “I think we should talk. Find a plan before he calls me.”

Kala frowned slightly, still not sure what to think about their desire to help her. She followed him toward a big rock where they could sit on.

“You only told him you’re almost there ?”

Kala nodded, biting her bottom lips. She was avoiding eye contact, stupidly scared that he might find out what happened in her mind a few hours ago. “I shouldn’t have ?” she asked quietly.

“No no, it’s good, this way we still can decide what to do.”

“Ok.”

Wolfgang looked at her. She was chewing her lip, staring at some bushes in front of them. Her fingers were tangles together, her thumbs playing nervously with her palms

“Are you sure you’re ok ?” he asked cautiously, frowning slightly.

She looked at him quickly and nodded vigorously.

“Hey,” he started, putting his hand on her arm. “whatever happens we will help you, ok ?”

Her first reflex was to look at his fingers on her forearm. Once again, she was moved by his gentleness. It was silly, really. It was just his hand on her, nothing else. How could this simple gesture be seen as gentle ? But she could only compare it to Param’s grip on her, always vindictive and basically the opposite of gentle. She looked up at him and suddenly his icy eyes became her number one problem.

“Yes, I’m fine don’t worry,” she forced the words out of her mouth. Then she realized she didn’t answer his last question. “I don’t know, I’m a bit lost.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” he replied, starting to thumb over her arm to soothe her. When he noticed he was doing it, he quickly removed his hand, hoping the gesture went unnoticed.

But it wasn’t. Kala added quickly : “I’m sorry, please don’t take it personally… I’m just not used to people helping me I guess.”

He pressed his lips together and raised his eyebrows. “I get exactly what you mean,” he said quietly.

She managed to look up at him and smiled sadly, apologetic.

He gave her the same look, to communicate it was ok. “We’ll talk about this all together with Felix. I have a few options in mind but we need to think about it properly.”

“What are those ?” she asked as genuinely as possible, trying not to show how anxious she was.

Wolfgang took a big breath. “Well, first of all, I need to be honest with you.”

She looked at him curiously, knitting her brows in confusion.

“Felix and I planned on running away for a long time now. But we needed to…” he hesitated for a few seconds “clear certain aspects of our lives before.”

She was staring at him the whole time, taking advantage of the fact that he was looking away while talking.

“So we did that, but then we needed to find resources to be able to move somewhere else. That’s why we thought I could become a magic teacher for a little while, just so we could raise a bit of money. It’s known in the whole city that my family was quite powerful and we were begrudged for that. Besides, I didn’t need any qualification to become a private teacher and, most importantly, it was legal.” He paused and looked at her.

She fought hard against her urge to look away, forcing herself not to break eye contact. She nodded, indicating she was listening.

“Then your husband showed up and offered an insane amount of money for us to take you here and give you an intense teaching programme. We seized the opportunity immediately and accepted. Our plan was to teach you whatever we had to teach you, take the money and fly away as soon as possible. But then…” he smiled and chuckled quietly.

“What ?” Kala insisted

He locked eyes with her again. “Then you turned out to be very far from what we expected you to be. In a good way, don’t worry.”

She smiled gently at that. “You too, I have to admit.”

He smiled back. His gaze became tender, mirroring her own. “So… Yeah, that’s where we’re at now. The problem is Param is supposed to give us the money at the end of the programme. So if you run away with us, we’re left with nothing.”

Kala tilted her head, not understanding. “Why don’t you just sell this house ? I mean, the whole property with the mansion, the land, this gigantic greenhouse... ”

He shook his head “Nope, not possible.”

At the confused look she gave him, he took a breath before admitting : “You know that my family was mobsters too. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing in Mumbai but here there are several families, which are the unofficial owners of bits of the city. Now that I, the last Bogdanow wants to leave, it leaves a big hole in this cadastre, and a gang war is to fear. So to be sure none of those illegal rulers are going to go after us, we have to leave Berlin properly. Basically, I promised to give the mansion and my whole heritage to one of them. That’s why we’re left with no money.” He stopped talking, waiting for her to process all of it.

Kala opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Then she looked down and snorted slightly. “Wow”, she said very quietly.

Wolfgang laughed too “Yeah, I know. Complicated.”

“A bit,” she admitted.

They stared at each other for a moment. Kala had been fond of his smile since day one but now was when she admitted to herself that it may have been for a reason. A reason that she didn’t want to name right now but it wasn’t making it any less real.

He was the one to break this small instant of silence. “So I had two ideas, the first one would be to tell Param about your powers and ask him to pay half of what we agreed on now that you have them.”

“Please no,” she said immediately. “If he knows about this, he’s going to make me go back with him, I know it. I don’t want to, I can’t.”

He was prepared for this kind of reaction so he softened and fought against his urge to wrap an arm around her. “Yeah, I get that. I trust you on this but if we do that it would be prepared, don’t worry.”

“No, you don’t understand. He will do it. Without a doubt. Please don’t do that, Wolfgang.” Her eyes were pleading and her voice suddenly unsteady.

Seeing her like that broke his heart and a new urge took over him. He wanted to wrap his body all around hers to create a safe place for her. He wanted to just run away tonight, no matter what the consequences would be. Though, he knew it was not a good idea and would force him and Felix to break the law again in order to not be homeless. And they really didn’t want to go back to that.

“Ok, I won’t,” he said softly. Her eyes were begging, he instinctively turned to face her. “We’re going to find something else.”

She stared back at him for a few seconds before looking down. “I’m sorry. I’m complicating everything.”

“No, you’re not,” he replied immediately. She was still looking down so he insisted: “Kala,” he said and waited for her to look up. “You’re not complicating everything.”

She swallowed, not breaking eye contact. “I’m not making it easier either,” she murmured.

He shrugged. “It’s just how it is. You’re not responsible for this situation.”

Kala seemed to want to say something but ended up letting a big breath out. She rubbed her hand on her face.

Wolfgang gaze fell on her lips. Her bright, full lips. He ran his tongue over his own bottom lip and forced himself to look up. She apparently wasn’t going to say anything so he suggested : “What about another day off ? Let’s just relax, for now, I think you need it.”

She made eye contact again, confused. “But we’ve been taking so many days off.”

“Well, we’re in no rush. Now that you’re coming with us, there is no need in following a strict schedule. It’s not that formal anymore.”

She nodded absentmindedly. “I’m not sure I’m able to focus on anything anyway.”

“We’ll get back to work tomorrow. I can’t believe one meditating session was all it took for your powers to show up. They were asking to get out, you’ll be making urge progress in no time.”

Kala smiled at him softly, appreciating his enthusiasm. “Thank you, for being this understanding.”

He shrugged slowly. “I think the two of us are quite alike on some points.”

She agreed shyly on that and he could not help to suggest she could help him gardening if she wanted too. She hesitated, she only felt this good when she was with him but after what she had done this morning, she had some doubts about whether it was a good idea or not. But she simply wasn’t able to say no to this man.

They stayed all afternoon together. Kala discovered a new facet of Wolfgang. A passionate young man, knowing a million things about flowers and trees. He told her about why he chose this exact place for what she learned was a kind of fern. She listened to him talking about how he managed to elaborate this automatic watering system that could suit all kind of needs for each plant. He admitted he would sometime turn it off so he could do it himself because it helped him relax.

While the sun was slowly getting down, Kala’s smile grew wider. She noticed it a few time and tried to correct it but her lips seemed to have a mind of their own.

When natural light was not enough anymore for them to see all around, Kala decided she would go back inside to take a hot shower to warm up.

Wolfgang almost told her he could warm her up with his own powers but his mind yelled at him it was inappropriate.

During dinner this night, Felix was unusually quiet. Well, as quiet as he was able to be, actually. He was not taking part in conversations between his two friends, holding back to be able to observe them. He was convinced Wolfgang wasn’t going to be capable of not trying something with Kala. Their interactions were slowly involving. If you didn’t know them you could think they were either really good friend or lovers. Felix had not noticed this before, but now that he was aware of their attraction for each other, it seemed obvious. He placed a mental bid on how many time it would take them to get together. After dinner, he declared he was tired and went straight to his room. 

Wolfgang knew very well it was only a tactic to let him and Kala alone. He gave him a look indicating he would pay for it later but did not say a word. He told Kala he would do the cleanup so she could do whatever she wanted. Kala said she could help but he insisted so she left him alone and wandered around. 

She finally settled for the second living room, where she and Wolfgang had their first conversation. She was instantly attracted by the fireplace and sat on the floor in front of it, her legs in a pretzel shape. She extended her hands to warm them up.

Kala stared at the flames for a long time, mesmerized by the way they were taking shape right before disappearing. It was identical to what Wolfgang was able to create with his hands. She surprised herself to be jealous of that. The fire was fascinating and the idea of holding it in her hands was appealing.

She noticed a firebrand at her right and grabbed it. As she played with the embers, she replayed her day in her mind. She had to admit that she felt quite lost. She could not deny her attraction for Wolfgang but she was not able to put a name on it. All she knew was that spending time with him or even just being next to him felt right. It felt better than with Felix and that was what preoccupied her. 

She stayed like that for a long while, discussing with herself while playing with the fire. 

That’s how he found her. He leaned on the door frame and contemplated her frame for a short moment. This woman was turning his world upside down.

“What are you doing ?” he asked softly, slightly amused.

She turned her head to see him “I don’t know, I just like fire.” _It makes me think of you_ , she said to herself. 

He approached her slowly. “Can I sit with you ?”

“Yes of course !” she said quickly, smiling at him. She shifted to the left to make room for him.

He didn’t say a word after sitting down, he just looked at the firebrand disturbing the flames.

“I’m a bit jealous,” she said to break the silence.

“Of what ?” he enquired.

“You. I wish I could play with fire like you.”

He smiled at that and chuckled quietly. “Alright,” he said while extending his right hand in front of him. Tiny flames came alive inside his palm. “Give me your hand.”

Kala stared at him, wondering if he was kidding. When he snorted and smiled wider, she realized the face she was making. She looked quite untrusting.

Wolfgang extended his free hand toward her. “Trust me. Give me your hand,” he said softly.

She slowly did what he was asking for and placed her right hand on his open palm. “Oh it’s cold !” she explained quietly, surprised.

“Yeah, it helps when you want to hold fire,” he mocked.

She grimaced at him in vengeance.

He laughed softly and, slowly, poured the tiny flames on her fingers. “Don’t move, if my hand is not beneath yours anymore it will burn you,” he warned her gently.

She nodded absentmindedly, mesmerized again by what was happening. She smiled widely, a smile that turned into a burst of frank laughter. She grabbed his wrist without thinking to bring their hands closer to her. “This is amazing,” she whispered.

Kala didn’t notice it but since she brought his hand closer to her, Wolfgang had to lean in, bringing his head close to hers too. As she was looking at that, Wolfgang took the opportunity to look at her. Her eyes were sparkling and the same amount of joy could be seen in her smile. For once he didn’t try to stop. He examined her face. Her beautiful and wild hair, her delicate brows, her tiny nose, her lips… He could lose himself in her beauty.

Kala looked up and he didn’t have time to look away. Realizing how close they were, Kala straightened her back to be a decent distance from him.

He looked down quickly, embarrassed. He removed his hand from under hers and the flames vanished.

She cleared her throat. “Thank you,” she said heartfully.

He pinched his lips. “You’re welcome.”

A few minutes went by, spent in a somewhat comfortable silence.

Weirdly, her stomach ache from earlier reappeared. She suddenly threw her head back and took a big breath. “Sometimes I can’t believe I’m actually here. Seems like a dream to me.”

He turned to look at her.

“Every day I spend here makes me realize even more how miserable I was back there,” she half murmured.

Wolfgang never heard her speak with this much seriousness. “But you’re really here,” he reassured her with a twinge.

“Oh thank God, yes !” she said, suddenly feeling her eyes watering.

“As we told you, we’re not going to let him take you back, you’re not his thing,” he added softly in an attempt to ease her.

Kala rubbed her eyes quickly and sniffled. “Sorry. I’m very sensitive today. It might be because of Param texts,” she said with a weak smile.

“It’s ok.”

She tried to take a breath but a new wave of tears reached her eyes. She closed them hard to keep the tears in but it did not work. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you’re safe here Kala,” he said, fighting against a new urge to wrap his arms around her.

She was overwhelmed her emotions. She had to deal with the realization that her life with Param was barely a life, that she was indeed safe here, that the man right next to her was making her feel things she never felts before, that she now had her powers, that Param would definitely try to take her back if he learnt about it. All of this, all at once. She covered her face with her hands just before a sob took her by surprise.

With this, Wolfgang stopped fighting and brought her close.

Instinctively, Kala hid her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around him. It was just as she remembered, warm and safe. “God, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” he whispered. “You’re safe here, don’t worry.”

She nodded hard against him.

Wolfgang put one hand on her head and caressed her hair. “It’s gonna be ok Kala.”

As a response, she just tightened her grip around him.

They stayed a long moment like this. It took Kala a long time to calm down, even though having Wolfgang this close was helping. He kept telling her that she would be alright, that he was there,... He told her every soothing words he could think off.

Even when she calmed down, she stayed close in his arms. She was breathing in his smell. She just felt safe.

Wolfgang kept caressing her hair and rubbing her back, hoping it would help.

After a long while, she finally moved. She untied her arms from around him and slowly pull away.

Wolfgang did not move at all.

When she was far enough, their eyes met each other.

Kala still had her hands on his shoulders. Her stomach ache intensified.

They stopped moving once again, lost in the moment, inches away from each other.

Wolfgang watched her gaze fall on his lips. His heart stopped.

Her mouth half opened.

Without realizing it, Wolfgang got closer again.

Kala didn’t move. She was not able to. 

His own gaze fell to her lips too.

Kala tilted her head slightly toward him.

He got even closer, not able to stop. He looked up to her eyes which he found out were still on his mouth.

Kala looked up too then. She locked her hands around his neck. She could feel his breath on her.

Wolfgang looked down again, just before closing the distance that was separating them.

Their lips met slowly.

Kala moaned quietly.

Wolfgang tightened his grip on her waist.

His mouth opened to close on hers again. Hers did the same.

He put his right hand on her cheek.

Kala shifted to a better position to kiss him.

This made him go back to reality. He reluctantly pulled away.

Kala looked at him in confusion.

Wolfgang frowned and move farther away. He was breathing hard. His icy eyes were looking right into her soul when he opened his mouth again, this time in order to speak : “Don’t you dare use your powers on me,” he said with a dead cold tone. Then he got quickly on his feet and left the room.

Kala didn’t even have the strength to say a word, let alone to go after him. She stared at the door frame for a while before breaking down again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	6. Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, they all need to talk.

Wolfgang could hear heavy steps in the stairs, steps that got closer and closer until the door of his room swung open.

“What the fuck happened ?” Felix shouted at him.

“Good morning to you too,” the blond one replied, exhaling the smoke of his cigarette. He was sitting in the frame of one his window, in sportswear, half of his body outside in the fresh air or early November.

“No ! No no no no ! You don’t get to be insolent with me today, you’re not my fucking son, even if it feels like it sometimes, and you owe me some fucking explanations !” Felix was talking fast and loud but didn’t trip on any words. He was furious.

As a response, Wolfgang just looked away, taking another drag of his cigarette.

“Wolfgang, I’m talking to you !”

Still staring outside, he chuckled. “You’re sounding a lot like a father to me. Lucky me, mine’s dead. So I’ll just stay here for as long as it pleases me while you go back to your own business.”

Felix sighed, exasperated. He closed the door behind him and took a few steps toward his friend. “Why are you like this ?” he let out, quieter than before.

Wolfgang smirked, unamused. He ran his tongue over his teeth, still not making eye contact. “I’m not in the right mood for a conversation Felix.”

“I just wanna know what the hell happened,” he said, trying to sound less aggressive. He waited for Wolfgang to talk but it didn’t happen so he continued : “I left you two alone for one evening fucking once and this is how I find you in the morning ?”

The blond one closed his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it. Why don’t you go ask her instead ?”

“I did Wolfgang,” he told him. “I did and none of what she said to me is making any sense so I’m trying to gather both part point of view.”

His friend gently shook his cigarette to get rid of the excess of ashes and finally made eye contact. His voice was calmer than before. “What did she say ?”

Felix could see that he was hurt. He knew him for long enough to know that this look in his eyes meant a huge disappointment. But for Wolfgang’s own sake, he needed to make him realize what a moron he was and compassion was not a part of his plan. He raised a hand to show his disapproval. “I’m not your carrier pigeon. If you want to know, you ask her yourself.”

Wolfgang dropped his gaze on the floor. He stared at Felix’s feet for a short moment and then sighed slightly. He raised his cigarette to his mouth and took a big last drag before he got off the window frame. As he crashed the last bit of his cigarette on the windowsill, he let the smoke out his lungs.

Felix stood still when his best friend brushed against his arm to get out of the room. He sighed heavily, knowing well that it was not in order to go talk to her.

Downstairs, Kala only caught a glimpse of him before he rushed out by the front door.

A few seconds later, Felix steps could be heard in the stairs. “I’m sorry,” he answered to her questioning look. “He’s not really in the mood to talk, apparently.”

Her gaze fell down at her feet, she looked so lost.

Felix crossed the few more steps that were separating them and gently put one hand on her shoulder. “He’ll be back soon, don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her throat tight.

“Don’t need to be. He’s Wolfgang, he’s a dumbass when it comes to things like that.”

Kala looked up at him and nodded to indicate she believed him. Or at least she wanted to believe him.

After that, Felix suggested a movie to change her mind and she agreed eagerly. At least this did not require any more talking.

She had explained everything to Felix earlier this morning when he noticed Wolfgang was late for breakfast. He asked her if she saw him this morning and she just hadn’t been able held her tears. She felt so guilty. Last night when he had left her in front of the fireplace, she had collapsed on the floor, shook by strong sobs. She couldn’t have believed what had just happened.  
The Kala from a month ago never thought she would one day live something like this. She genuinely cared for Wolfgang but when he told her not to use her powers on him she started to question it.  
Had she really been doing it ? Was she responsible for this kiss ? Apparently, she had been using her powers without knowing it for a while, even if it was only the early stages of it, so it might not have been impossible.  
She didn’t sleep at all this night. She slowly had risen from the floor a long time after he had left. Once in her bed, she had debated what to do until the sun rose again. She had thought about knocking at his door in the middle of the night to tell him that she has not been doing anything. She had thought about waiting for him to wake up so they could talk it out. She had thought about going to Felix and ask him what to do. She had thought about sliding a note under Wolfgang’s door, about texting him, about calling him, about avoiding him… She even had considered running back to Param in the middle of the night.

Instead, she had just stayed there, under her covers, eyes wet, her mind too empty and full at the same time. Weirdly, the only question in her mind was whether or not he was asleep.  
She was so scared she might have just ruined everything. Felix and Wolfgang were the only friends she had and losing them would be terrible.

She spent the whole movie ruminating about the whole situation in silence, not really attentive at what was happening on the screen. 

One hour went by and Felix turned to look at the hallway when they heard the front door open again.

Kala exchanged an anxious look with him. He patted her shoulder to ease her and got on his feet.

He went after Wolfgang in the stairs and joined him in his room. When he noticed him he said : “Wolfie, I’m sorry for earlier. I understand it might be difficult.”

His blue eyes met his friend’s, indicating he was listening. Though he still went on and took off his tee-shirt in order to go in the shower.

“If you don’t want to talk to me, it’s fine,” Felix continued, “but please, talk to her.”

Wolfgang seemed calmer than this morning. He only stared at Felix for a moment.

“I mean, you can’t just ignore her forever.”

Wolfgang nodded, kind of defeated by this simple truth. He kicked his shoes off and bent over to get rid of his socks too.

Felix sighed quietly. He asked gently : “Wolfgang what happened last night ?”

He stopped and looked away, slightly annoyed. “I don’t know,” he confessed.

“What do you mean you don’t know ?”

“I don’t !” he went on, slapping his arms against his sides in defeat. “We were talking and then she started to cry so I tried to comfort her and then we were kissing and I freaked out.”

Felix put on a confused and sad face. “Who started it ?”

His friend shrugged. “Both I think. Why ?”

“So what on earth makes you think she was manipulating you ?” he answered, trying to keep his calm.

Wolfgang rolled his eyes in annoyance and took a few steps toward the bathroom.

“No Wolfgang, seriously,” Felix stopped him. “Why ?”

He didn’t turn to reply to his friend, a hand grabbing on the door frame. “Because it’s a possibility.”

It was Felix’s turn to roll his eyes. He sighed in exhaustion. “Or maybe you have real fucking feelings for her. That’s a possibility too, and you should consider it.”

Wolfgang snorted quietly before disappearing in his bathroom. “Yeah,” he said ironically.

\----

When Wolfgang asked Kala to follow him downstairs, she quietly accepted. It was the first words he had said to her since yesterday. As she walked behind him toward the basement, her heart started to accelerate at the idea of being alone with him. The went down the stairs she was now accustomed to, to reach the training room, her throat got tighter and she took a second to close her eyes to pull herself together.

He apparently opted for ignoring the whole situation and she was wondering if she should just follow him on that.

“We’re not going in the greenhouse today ?” she asked quietly, afraid he would actually hear her.

Wolfgang closed the training room’s door behind them. “No.”

Kala tensed a bit more. She really didn’t want to spend a whole afternoon alone with him if he was intending to be cold with her.

He positioned himself on his usual spot and met her eyes for the first time. He must have noticed her uneasiness because he added. “Too many distractions there. I want you to focus on your feelings”

She froze. Was he trying to make fun of her ? “Wolfgang…” she tried.

He interrupted her. “I’m serious, I’m sure we only scratched the surface of what you can do.”

She examined his face, trying to break through the mask he put on for her. She rubbed her hand on her other arm, gathering all the courage she had. “Wolfgang, I’m not sure I can…”

“What ?” he interrupted her again, sharp. “You don’t want to be ready when Param will come back ?”

Kala’s heart missed a bit, hurt. She frowned, mouth half open. “Why are you doing that ?” she heard herself say.

He inhaled through his nose. He hesitated. “I just want you to be able to defend yourself.”

She knew it was his way to say “sorry”, but she needed more than that. She chewed her bottom lips and closed her eyes for one second. “We need to talk,” she managed to let out.

Wolfgang went silent for a bit. His gaze fell on the floor and he chewed on his tongue. He took a short breath “I don’t want to talk,” he said in a deep voice.

Kala was still looking at him, trying to make eye contact. “What if I do ?” she said after a moment.

He sighted noticeably and looked away. He raised his eyebrows “I knew it was not a good idea,” he said while walking toward the door.

When his hand laid on the handle, Kala said with more energy than she intended to “No !”

He turned to look at her. “Listen, I just want to forget about it, ok ?” he said coldly.

Kala felt her blood starting to boil in her veins.

This time he was staring at her with his intense eyes, looking directly into her soul.

When she opened her mouth her voice shook unexpectedly “What about what I want ?” She could not even remember if she ever said those words before.

Wolfgang felt the intensity of what she said run through his body. He stared at her for a moment, not knowing how to react to that. He ended up looking down, then turned his back to her and went up the stairs in silence.

Her breathing accelerated. “You can’t run away from me again,” she said louder so he would hear her.

He didn’t stop.

A fresh tear ran down her cheek. She closed her eyes. “Wolfgang !” she shouted. 

As the sound escaped her mouth, she felt an explosion inside of her.

She collapsed on the floor.

Alerted by the big noise that came with that, Wolfgang ran downstairs. A dull light was coming out of her and she was already regaining consciousness when he got close to her. He called her name and helped her to get up. “Are you ok ?”

“What happened ?” she asked, a hand on her head in an attempt to ease the ache coming from under her skull.

“I don’t know,” he answered, supporting her weight on his side as she seemed to be unable to stand on her own. “It’s probably a new facet of y…” he trailed off, cut by another big noise on the ground floor of the mansion. He looked up at the ceiling as if he could see where it came from.

Then they heard bursts of laughter, or maybe sobs.

“Felix ?” Wolfgang called, frowning.

As they got a scream for only answer, Wolfgang walked toward the door to go check on his friend. He helped Kala go up the stairs and run toward the kitchen as soon they were on the ground floor.

He found Felix on the floor, curled up in a ball, crying hard. “Fuck ! Are you ok, what happened ?”

A pan was on the floor a couple of feet away, the sauce it once contained spilled everywhere.

Felix looked up at his brother and laughed at him. He got on his feet and wrapped his arms around him. “I love you so much Wolfie !” he burst out, followed by new tears.

“What the fuck ? Are you ok ?” Wolfgang continued, trying to back up to make eye contact.

At this moment, Kala appeared, leaning on the doorframe.

Felix landed his gaze on her and his eyes widened in fear. He screamed again, walking backward. He hit the counter with his back and fall on the floor again. He wrapped his arms around his folded legs, then started to hit his head on the cupboard’s door behind him. “I’m sorry !” he yelled with every hit. “I’m sorry ! I’m sorry !”

Wolfgang went on his knees next to his friend. He put his hand on the back of his head to keep Felix from hurting himself. “Hey, Felix calm down. You need to calm down. What happened ?”

Kala sat on the floor next to them. “I’m trying to figure out how he feels but…” she trailed off with a frown of confusion and pain from what happened.

“But what ?” asked Wolfgang almost panicking, destabilized.

Meanwhile, Felix stopped crying and slowly let himself sink on the floor. He was now completely laid down on the kitchen cold tiles, a smile now on his face.

“I… Think he’s feeling everything.” Kala clarified quickly.

“What ?”

“Wolfgang ?” Felix said. “Do you remember Anna ? I think I should call her back, I might be in love.”

Wolfgang chuckled at that. “Ok, what's wrong with you ?” 

“I think I did that to him, but I don’t know how to stop it !” she burst, freaking out too.

“Do you think she likes me, Wolfie ?”

He didn’t answer, focused on Kala. “Just try to do the same thing you did with me. Try to change his mood.”

“You don’t answer because you think she doesn't love me back, isn’t it ?” Felix continued, starting to weep.

“What if I make it worse ?” she asked in a hurry.

“Kala,” he tried to get her attention. He put a hand on her shoulder to make her look at him. “You can do this, ok ?”

She looked at him for a short moment, right in the eyes.

“Of course she doesn't like me,” sobbed Felix. “Who would love me anyway, I would not,” he added, curling himself in a ball again.

Kala nodded, still looking at Wolfgang. “Ok,” she whispered.

He noded too in encouragement.

Then she turned to look at Felix and landed a hand on him. She tried to reach her friend, lost in this insane amount of feelings. She closed her eyes in concentration.

Wolfgang put a hand on Felix's forehead to try to calm him down, stroking his hair gently while Kala worked on him.

She frowned because of the effort. As much as she was trying to inoculate peace into Felix, the other feelings would always push it away. She tried harder, but with the same result.

“I can’t,” she breathed out. “It’s too much, my voice is too small in all this.”

Wolfgang put his other hand on top of hers. “You can,” he persevered, “and you will.”

Kala focused harder on Felix. She worked on making him stop crying first, this time. A few seconds later, no more new tears were coming out of his eyes. Slowly, she managed to suppress every feeling running inside of him, one by one.

By the end of it, her breath was short and beads of sweat had appeared all over her face. It’s only when she managed to suppress the last unwanted feeling from Felix that she let herself collapse once again against the base of the counter.

“Fuck,” Wolfgang swore. “Felix, are you ok ?”

He frowned deeply “My head…” he managed to say, putting a hand on his forehead, “it fucking hurts.”

Wolfgang took one second to look behind him “Kala ?”

She nodded slightly to indicate him she was ok and closed her eyes against her own pain.

He directed his attention back on Felix who was now sitting up. “What the fuck happened ? Ouch !”

“Kala’s powers happened,” Wolfgang clarified.

Felix took a big breath. “Shit !”

“I’m sorry…” she said in a quiet, weak voice.

Felix noticed her behind his friend. “Fuck, oh my god Kala, are you ok ?”

“I’m fine,” she answered with the same energy.

“You don’t look fine to me,” Felix continued, getting up. “Let’s take her to the couch.”

“What about you ?” Wolfgang asked concerned.

“Just a headache,” he wiped off with a sign of his hand. “Come on !”

The two boys got on their feet quickly. They grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her toward the living room. Once on the couch, she laid down slowly.

Wolfgang brushed her hair away from her face “She’s burning up,” he noticed as he touched her forehead. He put his hand on her and started to cool her down with his own powers.

“You outdid yourself on this one, darling...” Felix added.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized again. “Are you ok ?”

“I’m fine don’t worry,” he answered, squeezing her hand before going back in the kitchen to grab some water for her.

once they were alone Wolfgang mumbled : “I’m the one who should be apologizing… I’m sorry.”

She opened her eyes to look at him. She stared for what seemed to be an eternity, still breathing hard. When Felix reappeared with a glass of water she said : “It’s ok.”

After fifteen minute her temperature was normal again, thanks to Wolfgang. She sat up and drank a bit. She kept apologizing to Felix who assured her every time that it was all good. Soon, she was completely fine again, just very tired.

“I’ve never seen anyone in this bad of a shape after forcing too much on their powers. What the fuck happened ?”

Wolfgang looked down and sighed quietly. “It was my fault. I’ve been a dick…”

Kala cut him off : “I was upset and apparently my powers kind of exploded in some way ? I have no idea how it did it, no idea why it only reached you. I could not do it again if I wanted to.”

Felix chuckled. “So let me put this straight. You upset her and I get shot ? Why does every time you fuck up I have to pay for it !”

Wolfgang raised his eyebrows quickly in confession, still looking down, feeling guilty.

“Hey, just kidding,” clarified Felix, shaking him gently by his shoulder.

After that, they fell into a rather uncomfortable silence. It lasted for almost a whole minute before Felix spoke again, not handling the awkwardness very well : “Remember that time we thought your powers were pacifists Kala ?” he chuckled again. “Well, that’s some serious secret weapon you have there !”

“I”m not sure how it works,” she said quietly.

Then, none of them added anything else. Silence washed over them again. Felix looked at them several times, both avoiding any eye contact with anyone. He cleared his throat to get their attention but they didn’t move a bit. He let another minute go by before he got up. “Ok, I think you two really need to have a serious talk. I’m gonna leave you at that.”

Wolfgang looked at him furiously, begging him to stay there. Kala didn’t raise her gaze from the floor.

“I’ll be cleaning up my mess in the kitchen if you’re looking for me,” he finished before disappearing.

Wolfgang closed his eyes for a second and took a small breath. He let her the chance to start the conversation but she didn’t, so he said : “I’m sorry. I should not have said the things I’ve said. I should not have run away again”

She stayed silent for a bit. “I’m not angry with you,” she eventually confessed. “I’m confused. I don’t understand your reaction.” With that, she finally made eye contact with him.

To be honest, he was not sure he understood his own reaction either. “I’m not used to this,” he settled for. “I know you want us to talk about…” he trailed off. “What happened. But I’m gonna need some times.”

“For what ?” she asked gently.

He let his gaze fell on his fingers. “To figure out how I feel.”

His voice was almost a whisper. A sad look appeared on her face.

“I’m not doing anything,” she clarified.

He looked back at her, bearly standing to see her like that. They stared at each other for a moment. Then he nodded. “I… I think I need to be alone for a while,” he said, dully. Then he added, afraid to mess up again : “Is that ok ?”

She nodded too, “of course.”

He stayed there for a couple more seconds, at the other end of the couch. Then he got up and walked toward the door.

“Wolfgang ?” she called him, unsure.

He turned to face her, listening.

She chewed on her lips, not convinced she should say it. “I don’t want to lose you. Whatever we are,” she told him, weakly.

He pursued his lips. “Me neither.”

They stared at each other again, then he left. Once he was out of sight she let a single tear roll down her cheek.

\----

After this afternoon, Kala kept her mouth shut about their kiss. She was dying to talk about it with him but was wealing to give him the time he was asking for. Days went by as they usually did before. They would spend mornings practicing either in the training room or the greenhouse, then have lunch altogether and go back at work for a couple of hours.

Though, she was starting to wonder what it was supposed to mean. It was just a kiss, after all, they could just leave it like that and forget about it just like he wanted to. If she was honest with herself, it was not that she cared about the fact that she married, but they were friends before anything else and she was afraid that putting too much thought into it might ruin it all. 

But if she was even more honest with herself she knew that imaginary arms were still around her while she was falling asleep every night.

At this point, she didn’t know what she wanted anymore. And according to what she was feeling from Wolfgang, he didn’t know either. Every time they practiced she could feel his desire to pull her closer, to kiss her again,... But she could also feel his confusion about it all and she didn’t want to make him do something he didn’t want.

He knew she could feel what he was feeling. He was trying very hard to suppress everything while they were working but it wasn’t really effective and it resulted in various awkward situations. Though, their unspoken agreement on not talking about it was enough to allow them to go on as if there was nothing amiss.

They went through the week peacefully. In appearance, at least. Five days after the last incident, after an evening spent telling stories over the sound of television Felix tried once again to make Wolfgang speak. Once Kala went to bed he started the conversation.

“So… Have you take a decision ?”

Knowing what he was talking about, Wolfgang shook his head slowly.

Felix stared at him for a couple of seconds, then got up to go in the kitchen. He came back with a beer for each of them. “I think you’re gonna need my help on this one.”

His friend chuckled at that, in a way better mood than a week ago. “Thank you,” he accepted the beer gratefully.

“So, let’s put this straight. You like her, she obviously likes you too, you snogged once like middle-schoolers and now you’re avoiding her because you’re scared of getting hurt.”

“I’m not avoiding her,” he protested with a frown.

“You know what I mean, mister grumpy,” Felix retorted. “Oh, I should call you that more often, it suits you perfect…”

A pillow threw at full speed cut him off in the middle of his sentence. “Ouch !”

“You deserved it.”

“This is all I get from trying to help you ?” he emphasized dramatically.

Wolfgang smirked before taking his beer to his lips.

Felix calmed down before he asked again, seriously : “Ok, so, what exactly is holding you back ?”

“Already told you about that,” he answered dully.

“Bulshit. I don’t believe one second that this is the only thing that keeps you from kissing her again.”

Wolfgang let his gaze fall on the neck of his bottle of beer, playing mindlessly with the foil still around it.

Felix took a sip of his own beer to give him time to answer.

“Maybe…” he started after a while “Maybe I’m scared to hurt her.” His voice was low.

His friend stared at him for a couple of seconds, knowing that he just said the bare truth. “Wolfie…” he started. “Hey, man, you’re nothing like your father, you know that.”

Wolfgang sighed deeply, straightening his back against the back of the couch. “Yeah, I know. But she’s been there for like a month and I already hurt her twice, how could I possibly pretend she’ll be safe with me ?”

“Ok, first of all, that time she got burnt, that was her powers fault ok ? You agreed on that,” Felix replied immediately. “Then about last week… You acted like an ass but you apologized. And you had no way to guess that her body would react like that.”

“But it still happened Felix ! How can we be sure I won’t do it again ?”

“Hey, Wolfgang… Her powers are young, very powerful and very unruly. It would have happened with anyone, it’s not you.”

Wolfgang dropped his gaze once again.

“Uh ? Don’t you think ?” Felix went on after a moment.

“I don’t know,” he confessed.

“Well, I know. None of this was your fault.”

His friend didn’t reply just yet. Instead, he took another sip of his beer. “I don’t know… It’s not just about that. I’ve never been with anyone, I’m not sure I know how to do that.”

A wide smile appeared on Felix's lips. “Oh man ! One peck on the lips and already talking about being with her ?”

Wolfgang hid his embarrassed grin behind his beer.

Felix got up to let himself flop right next to him, an arm around his neck. “My brother has a girlfriend oh my god I’m excited !”

“We’re not together,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, just give it a few times,” added Felix, proud to be his usual annoying self.

\----

“What are you doing here ?”

His voice startled her, not expecting him to show up. She was sat on the edge of the fountain in the greenhouse.

“It relaxes me,” she replied.

He frowned with a tiny smile, “At seven in the morning ?”

She looked away with a smile on her own lips, like a kid caught in the middle of a naughtiness. “I couldn’t sleep. And I love to see the sunrise from here”

“Me too actually,” he informed her, nodding. “Can I sit with you ?”

“Oh, yes of course ! It’s your home.”

They stayed here in a comfortable silence for a while. Darkness was slowly shifting to brightness.

“So, you like coming here in the morning ?”

He turned to look at her. The rising sun was making her skin glow. “Yeah, used to do it much more often. Kind of missed it actually,” Wolfgang explained. “You ?”

“Oh, this is only my second time doing it.”

He smiled to acknowledge her answer. Then, after another short moment of silence, he spoke again : “Can I ask you why you couldn’t sleep ?”

She slowly looked up at him. “You can, but I don’t think you want to talk about the answer,” she replied gently.

He took a small breath, staring back at her. “Maybe I do, now.”

“Really ?” she queried, an unreadable look on her face.

He nodded gently. “But the thing is I don’t really know what to say either.”

“Why did you kiss me ?”

He stopped for a second, took by surprise by her spontaneity. “I don’t know, why did you ?” he chuckled.

She chuckled too and looked away. None of them replied to the question, both already knew the answer.

She chewed on her bottom lips, hesitant. “I rehearsed like five different speech for this conversation but now none of them seem appropriate.”

He smiled to encouraged her, unwillingly awkward.

“I… Don’t know where to start, actually.”

She took a big breath while he was still observing her.

“The thing is… That I feel safe with you, Wolfgang. Safer than I ever remember feeling,” she whispered. “I don’t know why, I can’t explain it, it’s just how it is.”

He was about to counter it but she continued.

“I don’t know what to think about that but… I love when we spend time together, I love when you teach me something, whether it’s about my powers or one of all these plants. I know it’s nothing but the matter is that I don’t enjoy being with Felix as much I do with you and… Well, it can’t mean nothing.”

He sighed slightly. “Kala…”

“It can’t, Wolfgang,” she said with a shrug.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“I know you feel the same way about me,” she said looking at him right in the eyes.

He looked away.

“I can feel it even right now.”

He sighed again, more audibly. “That’s exactly why I don’t want you to use your powers on me.”

She opened her mouth, hurt. “I wish Wolfgang. Believe me, I try not to but I can’t just turn it off.”

“Yeah I know,” he whispered.

“You don’t believe me ?” she asked with a frown, taken aback.

“No, of course, I believe you. But it’s not about how we feel Kala, it’s…”

“What ?”

He shrugged strongly, searching for the right words. “You think you know me but the truth is you don’t.”

“What…” she let out with a breath

He looked back at her. “I’m not the good man you think I am.”

She stared back at him, for what felt like an eternity. “I trained my powers on you. You’re not the bad man you think you are.”

Her reply hit him right in the chest.

“I am.” 

“Wolfgang…”

“I am Kala. Remember when you asked me how I ended up owning this mansion when I’m this young ? It’s because I killed them, Kala. I killed them all. People died at the exact same spot we met, because of me.”

She just stared.

“I’ve killed dozens of people in my life. You deserve way better than that.”

“That is not for you to say,” she whispered, her throat tight. “You have no idea of how many time I thought about doing the same thing.”

She paused, he kept quiet.

“You have no idea how many plans I had in my mind to get rid of all of them. To get rid of him.”

His eyes became kinder.

“How could I ever reproach you for doing what I almost did so many times ?” She paused again, this time to grab his hand. “I’ve spent most of my life with mobsters, Wolfgang. You’re nothing like any of them.”

He had his eyes stuck on their hands. “I’m not sure I can bring you anything good.”

She chuckled sadly. “Let me be the judge of that.”

He looked up at her.

“I don’t have a name for what I feel for you, but…” she went on, raising her free hand and putting it on his chest.

All of a sudden he felt new feelings invade his body. He understood immediately it was her owns. He experienced her urge to get closer, to hug him, to kiss him. He felt the safety she was talking about, her joy to be with him at this exact moment. He could say how much she wanted them to be something. He could feel a physical ache from wanting to abandon herself in his arms. Finally, he could feel how fast her heat bit in her chest, anticipating.

A perfect reflexion of his own feelings.

One second later he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. She instinctively buried her face in the crook of his neck, holding him tight.

“Kala…” he whispered.

She sniffled. “One word and I let you go. Another and I’m yours.” Her voice was muffled from talking against his skin.

“You don’t belong to anyone,” he mumbled in her hair.

She laughed softly, then she pulled back, eyes wet. “Then let me be free with you.” 

He stared at her for a couple of seconds. He examined her expression, not really believing she wanted this as much as he did even if she just showed him otherwise. He took his chance before he could change his mind.

His lips crushed against hers. She moaned softly when he pressed closer. One of her hands found its way to his hair, the other to his cheek. He moved his lips slowly against hers, she kissed him back with the same intensity. She risked a curious swipe of her tongue, to what he replied by opening his mouth to let her in. As they deepened the kiss, his hand ran down her body to her lap. He made his way under her knees and scooped her up to land her across his lap. She pressed closer to him, he groaned quietly.

She pulled back eventually, out of breath. He tilted his head unintentionally, his lips following hers. She nuzzled his nose softly, smiling. He smiled too suddenly, a wide and lively smile. They both started to chuckle gently, sinking in their new reality.

The sun was now fully visible in the horizon, tinting the whole world in pinkish orange.

He kissed her again, softer. When he pulled back he said : “I could get used to this.”

She laughed, then caressed his lips with the tips of her fingers. “Me too.”

He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was right now, with the sun making her skin glow, her hair wild because of his hand in it, her eyes sparkling with joy. But he remembered her conversation with Felix the day the went at the market and decided to keep it for himself, admiring her in silence. He was hoping his own eyes would be enough to pass the message.

He laughed suddenly, shaking his head.

“What ?”

“Felix’s gonna be impossible now.”

She laughed too. “As if he wasn’t already.”

“Good point,” he said before kissing her quickly one more time.

She landed her forehead on his, a stupid smile on her face, unable to look away from this man.

He tucked her hair behind her ear, then put his hand on her cheek, thumbing on her skin softly.

“We don’t have to tell him right now,” she whispered.

“No, we don’t,” he agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long for them to get together... But they are now ! In the next chapter, Wolfie takes her on a city tour by night, should be interesting !
> 
> Thank you so much for still being here, I know I should update way more often but it's not always that easy. I'll try my best to keep up !
> 
> Please let me know what you thought about it in the comments, it always makes my day <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :)
> 
> I didn't mentioned it here but Felix's power is to control wind ! I'm curious, what do you think Kala's power will be ? :D


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